War
by mickeygirl101
Summary: When a princess of a nearby kingdom, comes asking for Caspian's help to defeat a great and terrible evil. The Pevensies get called back into Narnia. Things get worse when unfortuante events keep befalling them. SusanxCaspian and PeterxOC.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - The Beginning**

"Come now Caspian," Trumpkin argued to the somewhat depressed king, "You can't stay like this forever."

"I think I might," Caspian replied staring blankly out of his castle's window. He had fallen in love with Susan. He had wanted her to stay with him forever, but fate would not have that. He had searched for hours on end looking for another way to call the Pevensies back, anything to see Susan, but he had found nothing.

"Well, then you're going to live the rest of your life in misery," said Trumpkin somewhat angrily. He missed the Pevensies, especially his dear little friend, but he knew that he had to overcome this sadness.

"And Susan wouldn't want you to spend your life grieving now would she?" asked Reepicheep kindly.

"I suppose," Caspian muttered, his eyes still focused on the sky before him. Reepicheep and Trumpkin stared at each other sadly. King Caspian hadn't really been acting like a king since Susan left. Instead, he had been acting like a love sick puppy for months. They sat in awkward silence, until the doors squeaked open.

"Sorry, you're majesty," said Trufflehunter, "but there's someone here to see you."

"See me?" Caspian asked hope rising in to his chest. Maybe, Susan had found a way back. Maybe she had figured out how to activate some sort of portal between the two worlds.

"Yes your majesty," Trufflehunter replied, "A princess from the land of Tashbaan. She has asked to speak with you, apparently it is of the utmost importance." Caspian's hopes dropped. He did not care about some princess from the land of Tashbaan, or any other land for that matter. "Please your majesty, she's refusing medical attention."

"What?" said Caspian snapping out of his melancholy state.

"She arrived at the gates with an arrow in her side," Trufflehunter explained, "She says she must speak with you." Caspian stood and quickly followed Trufflehunter out of the room.

In the middle of the entrance, lay a girl about eighteen years of age with a bright red arrow sticking out of her thigh.

"You requested to see me," Prince Caspian said stooping down to the floor.

"Yes," she panted, "I am Princess Aleena from…oh who cares the badger probably already told you." Princess Aleena had black hair which had been braided into two stick straight braids that were currently tied up in a bun.

"Please allow us to help you," Trufflehunter said cautiously moving towards her.

"Fine, but do it while I talk please." Trufflehunter hurried towards her side, and carefully examined the wound. "I have come to you to request your help."

"Help," asked Caspian confused, "I do not understand."

"Your people helped mine years ago, and I need them to help us again. I don't know if you've heard of them, but the Kangans have attacked our village once again."

"I haven't," said Caspian staring at her.

"I have," said Reepicheep suddenly drawing attention to himself.

"Cool," smiled Aleena, "A talking mouse with a sword."

"Now that is original," said Reepicheep smiling.

"Moving on," said Caspian rolling his eyes, "Could you please explain to us what these Kangans are."

"Well," Aleena started.

"Not you," Caspian said, "save your energy."

Caspian turned towards Reepicheep, "Oh me. Well, the Kangans started off as desert marauders. They would hide in between sand dunes, and wait for innocent travelers to pass by. They would then give them a choice."

"Life with them or death," interrupted Aleena. She received an angry glare from Reepicheep, "Oh sorry."

"Continuing, the Kangans soon had so many pirates they became an empire. Their greed pushed them to violently murder off all of the nearby villages. Even today the Kangans continue to grow."

"Let me guess," Caspian said turning to Aleena, "They're going after Tashbaan."

"Well aren't you good at geography," Allena said sarcastically, "Tashbaan is made up of 6 different empires. 5 of them are taken, and mine is the last one still free."

"How can you rule Tashbaan then?" asked Caspian suspiciously.

"Because each kingdom sends their King to a high council, where someone from that high council is elected to be the High King of Tashbaan, understand. I'm that guy's daughter," Aleena replied panting every couple of words.

"That guy's?" Reepicheep said raising his eyebrow.

"I don't like him that much okay," Aleen argued back.

"How does this concern us?" asked Trumpkin coldly.

"Because if Tashbaan becomes theirs, guess who they're going to go after next."

"Narnia," said Caspian softly.

"Ow," Aleena screamed, "What did you do?"

"I just pulled an arrow out of your leg that's what," Trufflehunter replied. He dusted off his paws, and pulled himself upwards. "And you're welcome."

"I'm sorry," Alena said wincing, "It just hurts."

"Don't worry, in a couple of weeks you'll be able to walk again," Trufflehunter said kindly patting her shoulder.

"A couple of weeks," Aleena said staring at them, "I have to get back to Tashbaan as quickly as possible."

"We'll send words to your people that you're alive and well, but you're not going anywhere," replied Trufflehunter trying to calm her down.

"I can stay for two weeks maximum before I must go," she said settling back against the floor.

"Have her taken to the guest's quarters," Caspian demanded.

"Wait," she asked raising her hand, "Where are the others?"

"What others?" Caspian asked starting at her.

"The other kings and queens," she explained, "We will need them to win you know."

"They are not here," he explained softly, "They had to go back to where they came from."

"Then how are we supposed to win?" Aleena asked angrily.

"We do not need them to be victorious," Caspian argued back. He was just as good a king as Peter, and could lead his army wonderfully.

"It's just how it's supposed to be. That's how we won last time, and we need them to win this time," she explained, "You must have a way to contact them."

"I can't," he said sighing, "I can't." He paused for a second to think. Running away from Aleena, he shot through the castle doors and into the rooms of the Pevensies. He searched frantically through the closest, trying to find the ivory horn.

"I can't find it," he muttered to himself softly. He'd looked for the horn before, but now was when he truly desperately needed it. He stood up and prepared to walk out of the room when he saw it. Lying on her dresser was Susan's ivory horn. He stared at it, and walked towards it softly. It hadn't been there two minutes ago, yet here it was. Caspian picked it up slowly, allowing his fingers time to observe every inch of the horn.

"What is it sire," Reepicheep asked as he walked in the door. Behind him followed Trufflehunter, Trumpking, and a limping Aleena.

"The horn," he said softly turning around.

"Well," Aleena asked, "What are you waiting for, blow it. Get them back here."

"This was only supposed to be used in emergencies," Caspian started, "And I don't think this classifies as one."

"It doesn't classify as one," Aleena said angrily staring at him. She limped towards him, "Why doesn't this classify as one King Caspian."

"Because no one here is going to die," he replied.

"Not here, but back in Tashbaan people are dying. Their dead bodies line the street, and people have created hiding places underground. The Kangans do nothing but kill, and yet this doesn't classify as an EMERGENCY!"

"If it's such an emergency," he replied, "You blow it."

"Fine," she said snatching the horn from his hands, "I will." She put the horn to her lips, and blew."

**A/N: So here's the deal. Every Sunday I'll release a new chapter, but if I get ten reviews before then I'll add it the day after I get the tenth review. : ) So, if you like it you should definitely review.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Back**

"This isn't funny Edmund," Lucy screeched as she lunged for his feet. Edmund stood above her swinging her notebook above her head.

"Come on Lucy, why can't I read about," he paused for a moment to look at her notebook, "Johnny Ofiar."

"Because, you just can't," she yelled as she lunged again at him, "That notebook is private." This entire scene had caused quite a commotion and had called Susan and Peter out of their rooms.

"Oh come on Edmund," Peter groaned, "Can't you just give her the book back."

"Peter, did you know Lucy has a crush on some French exchange student?" Edmund asked, causing Lucy to gasp.

"Oh really," Peter replied mischievously, "What about him does she like."

"Well," Edmund said professionally as he started to read Lucy's notebook, "Johnny has the most adorable eyes and he's ever so nice."

"Peter, Edmund, grow up," Susan said sternly grabbing the notebook from Edmund's hands and whacking them both on their heads with it, "This was private." She paused for a moment and looked down at the notebook. "Oh god, Lucy I didn't know you liked him enough to write his name down about a hundred times."

"That's not all," replied Edmund, "she has funny drawings of them in the back."

"Please stop," Lucy begged as she grabbed onto Edmund's sleeve.

"OW," Edmund said, "Why'd you have to go and pinch me Lucy?"

"I did nothing of the sort," Lucy replied, "Geez, Edmund you didn't have to pinch me back."

"I didn't," Edmund said staring at his siblings.

"You don't think," Susan said softly staring at Peter. Slowly, the wall next to them started to crumble away, revealing a long wooden bridge.

"Doesn't that look an awfully lot like," Lucy paused in awe.

"Caspian," Susan whispered. She ran through into Narnia leaving the others behind her.

"You know, there used to be a time when she wouldn't do that," Edmund said laughing.

"Well, if you were in love with Prince Caspian wouldn't you?" Lucy said giggling as she followed Susan.

"You don't really think Susan is in love with Caspian do you," Edmund asked as he stared at his brother.

"Of course I think she's in love with him, just look at how fast she's running." Peter laughed as he ran after his sisters.

"I really don't like it when they leave me all alone," Edmund said to himself as he followed Peter.

"Caspian," Susan said as she pounded on the gate, "Open up it's us."

"Give him some time Susan," Peter said softly, "For all we know millions of years could have passed by. He could be dead."

"Peter," Lucy said sending him death glares after seeing Susan's shocked face, "We've only been gone for a couple of weeks."

"You don't think he died did you," Susan said tears in her eyes.

"No, of course not," Edmund said hugging his sister, and shooting glares at his brother. Suddenly, with a loud creaking noise the gate slowly started to rise. They all took a step backwards and stared at the gate. King Caspain and Trumpkin rushed out, while Aleena limped slowly behind them.

"Susan," Caspian said as he ran towards her and pulled her into a hug.

"My dear little friend," Trumpkin said as he hugged Lucy. Edmund peered around the gate.

"Think there's anyone coming for us," Edmund asked Peter.

"Edmund," Peter said jokingly.

"Peter," Edmund replied laughing as they hugged each other.

"Why'd you call us out here Caspian?" asked Peter as soon as everyone stopped hugging.

"I didn't," replied Caspian, his arm still around Susan's waist.

"I did," said a soft voice from behind Prince Caspian, "I need your help."

"Whatever for?" asked Susan staring at her.

"And who are you?" added Edmund.

"I am Princess Aleena," she paused for a moment wincing in pain. Peter rushed forward and allowed her to wrap her arm around his neck for support. "Thank you, and I'm pretty sure you four have helped me before. Well, not really me, more like my people."

"You're rambling," said Caspian trying to help her refocus.

"Your right, anyway, an empire called the Kangans," she started.

"Wait, an empire of Kangans?" Peter asked staring at Edmund.

"Since when where they an empire, weren't they just a pathetic group of rebel wanna -bees?" Edmund replied.

"That was 13,000 years ago Ed," Susan replied, "I'm sure by now they must have grown."

"Grown is an understatement," Aleena added, "It's more like multiplied by a thousand. Anyway, they've taken over half of Tashbaan, wait do you still remember what Tashbaan is?"

"Of course," Lucy exclaimed, "That's where Sultan Mohamed let me ride that stallion. Remember guys?" Lucy smiled back up at her siblings.

"Wait Sultan Mohamed?" Aleena asked staring at them, "He's my great-great-great-great Grandfather and dead. How could you have possibly have known him?"

"We're technically 13,000 years old here," Susan explained.

"Well you look great for your age," Aleena said smiling, "Anyway, they've taken over almost all of Tashbaan, and we desperately need your help."

"Because if they lose, the Kangans are going to go after Narnia," Caspian explained.

"Well that definitely classifies as an emergency," Peter said staring at his siblings.

"See I told you," Aleena said smirking.

"I wanted to be sure before I called them," Caspian said rolling his eyes.

"Well what's our battle plan?" asked Peter staring at Caspian.

"We currently don't have one," said Caspian slowly.

"Well haven't you been ever so productive," Edmund said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Come on Edmund," Susan said shooting him a look, "It's not like he knew we were going to be here."

"Still, what is he expecting us to do while we wait," Edmund asked, "Color?"

"I wasn't expecting you to come," Caspian retorted, "It wasn't me who called you here."

"He's right," replied Peter as he turned to face Aleena, "What exactly did you have in mind."

Aleena paused for a moment to think, "I have no idea. My father just sent me here to find you, and told me that you would help us triumph over the Kangans."

"Wait how many troops do you have?" Edmund said stepping forward.

"Counting your troops," she paused, "About your troops."

"What happened to your troops?" Peter asked somewhat aggressively. "You couldn't have expected us to have been able to defeat an army with what we have by ourselves could you?"

"I didn't expect you to, but my people are still fighting. I don't know how many have died since I left," Aleena said staring hard at them. "My journey here could have been a complete waste of time. Twenty men died trying to get me here, and that was only in a week. My men were extremely well defended, while theirs were not. I have no idea how many Tashbaan soldiers are still alive and able to fight, and until I do I am assuming the worst."

"That seems logical," said Susan slowly.

"Well if we only have our troops we should start preparing now," Peter said turning around to stare at Caspian.

"I agree," he replied taking his arm away from Susan, "We can use the council room to devise a battle plan."

"Let's go," replied Aleena as she pulled her arm away from Peter.

"Where do you think you're going?" asked Trumpkin as he stood in front of her. Aleena turned around to stare at Caspian and Peter.

"Do you seriously not expect me to help?" she asked in disbelief.

"You need to rest," started Caspian moving towards her, "or do you not remember walking into the palace with an arrow sticking out of your thigh."

"I can rest once where done," Aleena argued, "I have more important things to do. No one knows the lands of Tashbaan here better than I do, and to plan an effective attack you're going to need me."

"It makes sense Peter," replied Edmund arguing with Aleena, "What if she sits in a chair."

"After what we've seen do you expect her to stay in that chair?" asked Peter.

"Maybe I can help," Aleena smiled and nodded, "and not stay in a chair."

"Not now Aleena," Susan argued, "maybe you should rest now while we come up with a primary attack plan. Then you can make alterations to it depending on the terrain of Tashbaan."

"I'll stay with you," piped up Lucy from behind them all, "I can read to you."

Aleena smiled, "I feel the strong urge to go and rest now and ignore any previous ideas I may have had."

"It's called the cuteness charm," Peter said smiling, "And Lucy didn't we say we weren't going to use that anymore."

"I felt that this was an appropriate time to use it," said Lucy smirking.

"If I agree to rest today," Aleena said diplomatically, "Then tomorrow I get to help, deal?"

"Agreed," said Caspian without turning to Peter and Edmund.

"Lovely," she said smiling as she limped away.

"No, don't limp we can get a centaur your highness," Trufflehunter yelled as he ran after her.

Reepicheep turned to face Caspian, "Your highness if I may, you are terrible at diplomatic relations." He bowed one more time, and ran yelling after Aleena.

"Well that was incredibly stupid," said Edmund staring at Caspian.

"Why, didn't I just get her to rest," responded Caspian confused. He had finally managed to get Aleena to calm down for one second, and instead of praise he was getting admonished.

"Yes, but it's already starting to turn dark out here," Peter replied calmly, "She's not going to get a lot of time to rest." Caspian stood quietly as he took in the repercussions of his actions.

"She is good," Lucy said breaking the silence.

"She is," said Susan laughing, "and I think maybe we should actually get some work done on that battle plan you promised her?" So Susan, Peter, Edmund, and Caspian headed out to start work on battle plans, while Lucy scurried of to Aleena's room to keep her promise of reading stories.

**A/N: Yeah, so the ending sucked, but same thing as before. I'll release the next chapter next Monday, unless I get ten reviews before then. I don't really care if you review twice, but I love when new people review to. I also wanted to add how completely stunned I was by the amount of reviews I got. I put up chapter 1 Sunday afternoon, and by midnight I had enough reviews for the next chapter. So, THANK YOU!!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Gone**

After a couple of hours, Susan, Peter, and Edmund were so tired their help wasn't helping all that much. Their only response to any questions asked was, "We'll ask Princess Aleena about it in the morning."

"If you don't mind me interrupting," Trufflehunter started cautiously, "I think this entire session could be much more effective if we waited until after you all have had some sleep." Caspian looked around at his weary-eyed friends and nodded.

"I agree," Caspian replied as he started to roll up one of the multiple maps of Tashbaan in front of him.

"But we don't even have," Edmund paused to yawn, "a primary battle plan yet."

"That will just have to wait until you can keep your eyes open," Susan laughed silently, "We can start back up again tomorrow after breakfast."

"Would you like me to get Lucy, King Peter?" asked Trufflehunter stepping towards his king.

"Where is she?"

"She seems to have fallen asleep in Princess Aleena's room," he chuckled to himself while thinking, "She definitely stayed true to her word. Her majesty read her majesty at least 4 books before falling asleep."

"I'll get her," said Peter, "there's no reason for you to stay up any later."

"If you wish," said Trufflehunter as he bowed and left the room.

"You really don't have to get her," said Caspian calmly, "I could have had someone bring her to her room."

"I don't mind," Peter said laughing, "It's past midnight, and honestly there really is no reason to wake any one else up." He proceeded to leave the room, and head up the stairs toward Aleena's room.

"How come he never brings Lucy to her room back home?" asked Edmund wondering why his brother would refuse the wonderful temptation of sleep at this hour.

"It's not for Lucy," Susan said giggling, "It's because he's hoping to see Aleena."

"Why, isn't she already asleep?"

"It's the principle of the matter Edmund," Susan said rolling her eyes.

"What principle?"

As Edmund and Susan continued to bicker as they headed to their rooms, Peter hurried up the steps towards Aleena's room. When he finally arrived at her door, he knocked gently to see if Aleena was still up.

"Come in," he heard her whisper softly from the opposite side of the door. Peter pushed the door open slowly, and walked in. Lucy sat in a chair her head resting on her arms which were crossed in front of her on top of Aleena's bed, still in her dress from when they got here. Aleena, however, had changed into a simple skirt and top, and was using one of the multiple sheets to cover herself.

"Sorry to disturb you, but I figured it would be easier for both of you if she slept in her own bed" Peter whispered as he walked towards Lucy, "I hope her never ending stream of stories didn't bother you much."

"It didn't bother me at all," said Aleena smiling, "It was actually quite nice."

"Yeah," Peter said smiling as he attempted to wake Lucy, "Hey, Lucy, time to wake up now."

"I'd rather not," she replied groggily as she shoved her head deeper into her arms.

"Come on you can't stay here all night, Aleena needs her sleep, Luce," Peter said shaking her, "Princess Aleena needs to get some sleep."

"Fine," Lucy muttered groggily said as she pushed her self upwards, "But I don't like it."

Aleena laughed, "Lucy you're more than welcome to come back some time later."

"That's lovely, thank you," Lucy mumbled as she struggled to walk towards the door, her legs ready to give out with exhaustion.

"Here, let me help you," said Peter as he walked towards her.

"That's okay," Lucy said moving away from him, "I can do this." She continued to walk out of Aleena's room, knocking several things over in the process, and almost stumbling into the wall at one point, which caused the two to share an awkward laugh, as Peter rushed to catch his sister before she hurt herself anymore.

"Thanks for letting her stay here," Peter said, as he guided Lucy out of the door, "I think she must feel pretty rejected when the three of us leave her out of her battle deliberations."

"She worries about the lot of you all the time," said Aleena smiling, "She thinks that you're all going to die."

"How do you know that?" Peter said somewhat suspiciously.

"She talks in her sleep," Aleena explained quietly, "You should hear her. Apparently she likes Johnny Ofiars eyes. By the way, who is Johnny Ofiar?"

"He's this boy in her class, we were mocking her about it before we came here," Peter said laughing with her, "We make fun of her a lot actually."

"It's easy to make fun of younger siblings," Aleena said once they calmed down, "I used to tell my sister that if she had to be nice to me because I would end up choosing her husband one day. She ended up being my slave for a month."

"That's a good one," Peter said smiling, "I used to tell Lucy that the monster under her bead would stay away if she left five pounds underneath her bed. I made about 30 pounds before I got caught by my parents."

"Well you four are definitely closer than my sister and me."

"Yeah, I really don't know what I'd do without them. We're like best friends, we have almost no secrets between the four of us."

"Peter!" an extremely loud scream shattered the comfortable silence that had settled between them. Peter and Aleena looked at each other in shock, trying to comprehend what just happened when an arrow went whizzing through the window next to them.

"Go get Lucy," Peter heard Aleena yelled as she tried to push herself out of her bed. Peter paused, momentarily stunned by Aleena, but suddenly regained control of his actions and rushed out into the hallway, and looked around frantically for Lucy.

"Lucy," Peter shouted as her ran up and down the hallway.

"Peter," Caspian yelled as he ran up next to him with both his and Peter's sword in his hands, "It's okay, we have her. Susan and I caught three Kangans sneaking past the courtyard with Lucy. Susan's taking care of Lucy and Edmund as we speak."

"What exactly where you two doing in the courtyard at this hour?" Peter asked grabbing his sword.

"I think it would be more efficient if we discussed this later," argued Caspian as they started to run down the staircase towards the courtyard.

"If you're trying to avoid the subject," Peter paused momentarily to stab an oncoming Kangan, "You're doing an awfully bad job."

"If you really want to know," Caspian plunged his sword into yet another oncoming Kangan, "we were just talking."

"Now how come I don't believe that?" They paused for a couple of moments while they dueled with more and more Kangans while they waited for the Telamarine army to arrive.

"Well you should, it's the truth," Caspian started once they had finally been able to pause for a moment once their army finally arrived.

"We will discuss this later," shouted Peter over the roar of noise coming for the multiple battles taking place. Out on the courtyard twenty men battled against 10 Kangans. The Narnians used only one sword, while the Kangans used two curved swords at once. From the top of the castle multiple archers, including Susan, sat positioned ready to fire the moment their troops left the courtyard. Finally after an hour, and multiple deaths on both sides, they had finally been able to force the Kangans to retreat. They decided that Aleena's help would be quite helpful in understanding the Kangans attack methods, thus helping them prepare for future battles.

"How did they manage to get inside the castle grounds?" asked Susan as she accompanied Caspian and Peter back up to Aleena's room.

"No idea," replied Caspian, "I'm having Reepicheep work on it now. Hopefully they'll be able to figure out how they managed to get past the gates."

"I'm more concerned at the numbers," started Peter his face etched with worry, "There were way too many of them for that to just be a small group." They rounded the corner, and they entered Aleena's room.

"Peter," said Susan staring at Aleena's bed, "I think that's the least of our problems right now." The three of them stared at the empty bed. Aleena was gone.

**A/N: Okay, so I'm pretty pleased with the response I've gotten. I've been writing my chapters at school now because by the time I get home there are enough reviews to add it. So once again same thing as last time. Just review, and if I hit ten I'll add another chapter. So review and tell me how u feel if you want another chapter.**

**P.S. I hope this awkward little Peter/ Aleena (for those of you who haven't figured out that Aleena's the OC) moment was alright.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 – Plans**

"Where did she go?" asked Susan as she stared at the room. The room was a complete mess, suggesting some sign of a struggle. The bed sheets were not only torn, but scattered across the room. In random places around the room there were random cut marks on the wall. Along with that, multiple vases had been shattered.

"Damn it," Caspian said hitting his hand against the wall, "This entire thing was a set up."

"What do you mean a set-up," asked Susan as she picked up one of the pieces from a shattered vase.

"He means that the entire attack on the grounds was an excuse to get us away from Aleena. The minute we left they must have tried to get a hold of her," Peter said trying not to show emotion. In his mind, he felt as if though the entire thing was his fault. Maybe if he'd just stayed with Aleena she might still be here. Susan instantly spotted the worry on Peter's face even though Peter tried to hide it.

"Peter, I know what you're thinking, and it is not your fault," Susan said walking up to him and placing her hand on his arm, "you could not have seen this coming. You did what any brother would do, you put your sister first."

"But, I could have stopped this, if I had just tried," Peter said solemnly pulling away from Susan, "I could have helped her, but, no, I just left her here."

"Peter," Caspian started, "What would have happened if Lucy was out in that hall way and was still fighting when you walked out. Would you still have regretted your decision?" Peter remained silent.

"Honestly, Peter," Susan said gently, "Until we know what happened here we will never know whether or not if you stayed with her she'd still be here."

"All we can do know is try to find her," Caspian said strongly as he stepped over yet another group of debris on the floor.

"Peter!" they heard Lucy scream from the entrance to the room. She rushed towards him and wrapped her arms around his legs. "Peter, you're okay."

"God, Luce," Edmund said as he walked in, "No need to cut off circulation in his leg."

"Where's Aleena?" Lucy asked innocently as she peered into her room, "Oh my god what happened." Lucy slowly unwrapped herself from Peter's leg and started to inspect the room.

"Yeah," said Edmund as he looked around, "What happened."

"As of right now, we think the Kangans kidnapped her during the attack," Caspian said slowly.

"That's awful," Lucy said as she knelt down on the floor fingering the remains. Her fingers finally found themselves closing around a small metal chain. Hanging on the chain, was a silver letter A, which most likely symbolized Aleena. Lucy closed her fists around it and stood up. She looked around, and saw that everyone was still standing, lost and confused as to what to do. She realized someone had to snap the others out of their dazed state.

"Well," she said taking charge, "What are you just doing standing around here? Don't we have to go and find her?"

"Excuse me?" asked Peter snapped out of his reverie by his her sudden change of attitude.

"Well you can't exactly expect her to just appear out of nowhere, you have to have some sort of a plan to help her right?"

"Currently," Caspian paused momentarily, "We have nothing."

"Well, then we'd better plan something shouldn't we," said Lucy staring at them.

"You're right," said Peter taking action. "Caspian tell the griffins to start searching. Hopefully they'll be able to spot something or someone out of the ordinary. Also get Reepicheep and Trumpkin in here; we're probably going to need their assistance if we want to plan an affective battle plan."

After flying for about two hours, the griffins managed to spot a band of Kangans crossing across the desert. The only problem was that it wasn't a band. At least three troops of soldiers marched across the dunes, without pausing once to sleep. Along with three walking troops, there were four huge caravans carting around generals. After spotting this, half of the griffins stayed behind to monitor the Kangans while the others reported back to Caspian and Peter. Immediately after getting this information Peter, Caspian, Susan, Edmund, Trumpking, Reepicheep, and Lucy sat down to prepare to a strategy to retrieve Aleena.

"No, I don't think that would really work," Edmund argued to Caspian, "If we try an aerial attack we wouldn't be able to bring an adequate number of troops."

"Well, we can't exactly run head on, that gives us no chance," replied Caspian.

"That's not our only problem," Susan added, "Where are the archers going to stand."

Reepicheep interrupted, "Excuse me, your Majesties, I am quite sorry to say that my troop is not used to working in the sand. This could cause some more problems."

"Why don't we try a surprise attack,"Lucy suddenly piped up.

"What?" asked Peter turning around to stare at her. After Lucy's recent outburst, everyone had started paying closer attention to her comments much more often.

"Well, what if we sent Reepicheep and his team in during the night. If we follow them for a while shouldn't we be able to figure out which caravan is holding Aleena?"

"One problem Luce," answered Edmund, "It's a desert. There are not a lot of affective hiding places."

"Maybe we could use griffins for this," suggested Trumpkin.

"What if the griffins carried the archers?" exclaimed Susan suddenly. "We'd have the perfect attack zone. Especially if we attack in the middle of the night, then we'd have the advantage."

"But we still have no idea where Aleena is," brought up Peter. He fell back into a chair and raised a hand to his head.

"I could send one of my men to follow them around," said Reepicheep, "We look like normal mice. During the day we could search through the caravans until we found one. We'd then mark it, and come back to it later."

"How exactly are you going to mark it without them seeing," asked Trumpkin staring at him.

"The same way we mark our territory," Reepicheep started to explain, but everyone seemed to get the picture.

"Now that's just disgusting," said Edmund scrunching his face up.

"Well," started Reepicheep, "Do you have another way to mark it without drawing attention to it?"

"I guess not," Edmund said slowly, "But it's still disgusting."

"Moving on now," said Susan rolling her eyes, "What is our primary battle plan if we use Reepicheep? Remember, that Aleena can't run or walk very fast. Her leg is injured, and I doubt the Kangans did anything to help her heal it. "

"We'll just have to find a way to transport her back without drawing attention," started Caspian, he turned to face Reepicheep, "No offense to you and your men, but I don't think they can carry her back without getting noticed."

"I don't want to sound pessimistic, but how do we know she's alive?" asked Trumpkin staring at Peter.

"We don't," he said softly, "But I'm not sure. Does anyone know whether or not the Kangan have a habit of killing off hostages?"

"I don't," Caspian paused for a moment to think, "But Dr. Cornelius might. Reepicheep, can you go and get him please." Reepicheep nodded and scurried out of the room. The rest of the sat there in awkward silence, Peter had not spoken up as much as he usually did. Tonight he left the main decisions up to Caspian, instead, opting to make only a few comments here and there. Lucy sensing that there was something wrong went over to him.

Out of all the siblings, Lucy and Peter were by far the closest. Being the youngest she almost always had Peter stand up and protect her, but lately she'd been learning to do that by herself.

"Peter," Lucy whispered as she sat next to him, "Are you all right."

"Do you think I'm wrong to think she's still alive?" Peter whispered to Lucy.

"Do you honestly think that she's dead?" Lucy replied. Everyone else in the room tried awfully hard not to over hear their conversation, but they were all failing miserably.

"No," Peter said, "At least I hope not, but what happens if she is. Our plan could be putting a lot of innocent people at risk for nothing."

"Or you could just walk away, and if she is alive let her die," replied Lucy. She fished through her pocket, and grabbed a hold of the silver necklace. She placed the necklace in Peter's hand.

"I really don't think she's dead, Peter," Lucy said smiling.

"Susan," Edmund whispered.

"Yes," she whispered back.

"Is this another principle thing?"

"Yes Edmund it is." They were interrupted, however, by the arrival or Dr. Cornelius.

"I brought every book on the Kangans and Tashbaans I could carry. From what I've researched for the Kangans to technically take the throne they have get each heir to secede their throne. Hopefully this can be done without murder, and is preferred in their customs, but if they refuse then the heir will be assassinated," Cornelius paused for a moment to breathe.

"So you're saying that there is a chance she is still alive?" asked Peter hopefully, standing up.

"Most likely, yes," he replied.

"Then let's go and get her back," Caspian said standing up.

**A/N: Okay, so once again I am truly stunned by the number of reviews I'm getting. At this rate I'm going to start posting two chapters a day. Anyway, same policy as before, but remember if you wan to see more than review!! If you have any ideas about things you want to see happen you can tell me in a review AND have it count towards the next chapter. YAY!! Anyway, until next time, au revoir. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 – Primary Attack**

After hours of preparation, they had finally been able to come up with an affective battle plan.

Reepicheep and his men instantly set out to try and scope out the Kangan camp. After they had left, it was decided that by putting at least 10 miles between them and the Kangans at all times they would be able to follow them without getting noticed. The rest of the army soon followed about a day later to distance themselves from Reepicheep and his men. The archers would be transported by the griffins in the air to help them get more accustomed to flying while attacking. After traveling for a couple of days, Reepicheep was finally able to discover which caravan was holding Princess Aleena.

"It's the only blue caravan that is traveling with the groups, Your Majesties," he explained to Peter and Caspian as they all sat around the single fire pit still burning, debating over what to do. "From what my men have been able to see, it seems as though she is only taken out three times a day. Once in the morning, again in the afternoon, and finally once before nightfall. It is during that time that she is the most heavily guarded. There are about 20 Kangans surrounding her as she steps out of the caravan, and they will not let her out of their eyesight."

"Then we will stick to the battle plan," Caspian interrupted, "We will attack during the night."

"Maybe we shouldn't attack them unless the attack us," started Peter cautiously, "That way, less blood is spilled."

"Then we will have to use another signaling system, now that Edmund's flashlight is gone," replied Peter.

"Can we not just scream, Sires?" suggested Reepicheep, "It seems much simpler."

"Yeah," Edmund interrupted them as he walked toward them from the entrance, "Let's wake up the entire camp, why don't we? Because that's such an amazing plan."

"I thought you were still sleeping," as he moved over to make space for his younger brother.

"And miss out on battle planning? I don't think so." Edmund said smirking.

"Just don't make a lot of noise, and wake the entire castle up," Peter whispered. "We want to keep this quiet for now."

"Keep what quiet," said Susan as she followed Edmund out of their make-shift sleeping quarters.

"Great job Edmund," Peter said frowning, "You woke up Susan."

"No," argued Edmund, "You guys just don't know how to whisper."

"If you don't mind Your Majesties," piped up Reepicheep, "I must soon get back to the Kangan camp and give the rest of my men the battle plan."

"What exactly is this big battle plan?" asked Susan as she sat on the edge of Caspian's chair.

"So far, we've decided that we're only going to attack if absolutely necessary," started Caspian as he explained his plan to those around him who did not know it yet, "Reepicheep and his men are going to wait underneath the caravan until roughly midnight, or at least until most of the men have gone to sleep. We know that there will be some of them on watch, patrolling the border, so they are then going to attack silently and kill off all the guards within a ten yard radius. This gives us roughly 10 - 15 minutes before someone gets up, walks buy, and notices dead soldiers lying around and raises the alarm. During this period of time, Reepicheep will have stolen the keys to the guard protecting Aleena's caravan. They are located on the guards correct?"

"Correct,"

"Good. After that Reepicheep will give the keys to Peter, who will then unlock the doors. Edmund is going to be waiting with two horses. Peter will have to have Aleena ride behind him, because there is no way she would be able to ride by herself with her injured leg. We're hoping to get out of there undetected, but, in case we are caught, our first line of defense will be the archers. Seeing as Peter, Edmund, Aleena, and your men," Caspian paused to signal to Reepicheep, "will be the only one there. Peter, Edmund, and Aleena need to get out of there as fast as possible. The rest of you are going to be placed in pouches fitted to the horses, hopefully that will allow your men to get out faster. I'm going to be with the rest of the swordsmen. If Peter gives the signal, we're going to charge."

"I will depart now," said Reepicheep bowing, "I must inform my men of the battle plan, and have them start training, Your Majesties." Reepicheep bowed once more, before scurrying outside. They could hear him faintly shouting in the distance, trying to gather his men. The rest of them sat there thinking in silence; so many things could, and probably would, go wrong tomorrow. There was no way for them to anticipate or communicate now. It was all up to fate, and normally fate did not get along with them often.

"What's going on here," said Lucy stumbling in, "I wake up and everyone's gone."

"We were just discussing tomorrow's attack plan," Susan explained to Lucy.

"I'm guessing that means that Aleena is alive," she said smiling. She stumbled over the hem of her dress, but Peter caught her before she crashed to the floor. "Thank you."

"She is," said Peter softly, "But there are a lot more risks involved now that she is." Each of them paused to think again of what could go wrong. Lucy could only think of the possible death of her siblings. Edmund focused on all the errors that could arise with their battle plan: keys not being on the guards, more men than expected, an alarm raised earlier than expected. Susan and Caspian thought only of each other. Corny as it was, they were in no way ready to lose each other like this. Peter, however, thought of how wonderful and awful things would be tomorrow. Having to explain to Aleena how this entire situation was his fault, or how wonderful it was going to be to see her again. He had known her for less than 3 days, but he had almost instantly felt the attraction. Peter was awoken from his thoughts by the sleeping Lucy in his lap.

"I think Lucy has the right idea," said Edmund laughing softly.

"We will all need our sleep if we are going to stay up all night tomorrow," said Caspian standing. Peter picked Lucy up, and proceeded to take her to her bedroom. It had taken barely any effort for Lucy to fall asleep; however, the others were up for quite some time, mulling over anything that could go wrong, and praying to Aslan that nothing would.

**The Next Day**

The rest of the day seemed to go by slowly for everyone. Anticipation filled in the soldiers' stomachs, the idea of going into battle both scaring and exciting them. The Pevensies, however, started to grow more and more nervous as time went by. By the time they were ready to initiate phase one, everyone was on edge. For the soldiers their moment had finally arrived.

Edmund and Peter left the rest of the group to get closer towards the Kangan camp roughly an hour before midnight. Unlike their exit plan, they had decided to walk towards the Kangan camp. Walking drew less attention than riding, and allowed them the ability to hide much faster. Once they had only a mile left to go they stopped and waited. Before preceding any father they would wait for the signal. One rat tail held high mean that they were preparing their first attack on the guards on duty. Three tails meant all guards down and that it was now safe to enter the camp. 5 tails held up in frenzy meant retreat. No one wanted to see this sign.

After a half hour of waiting, Peter finally saw a single rat tail and continued walking towards the Kangan camp, Edmund would join later once Peter had entered the camp. Now about 50 feet from the blue caravan holding Aleena, Peter froze. He could see Reepicheep and his men fighting clearly. After about 3 minutes of waiting and watching, Peter was given the three tail signal. Peter rushed forward, pushing sand in all directions.

"Here are the keys," Reepicheep said handing the keys to the caravan to Peter quickly. There was no time for formalities now. Peter quickly shoved the key into the lock and started to turn. He waited for the click of unlocked locks, and pushed the door open. In the corner of the room lay Aleena. Her hands and feet were bound with three layers of rope, while her mouth was kept shut with what looked like a handkerchief. Peter rushed forward, while Reepicheep and his men struggled to chew through the binds holding Aleena down.

"Thank you," Aleena muttered softly once Peter had removed the gag from her mouth. Her face was caked with dirt, and her once perfect braids seemed disheveled and unruly.

"Thank me later, once we're out of here," Peter said helping her up once her binds had been broken. She immediately started to protest once Peter picked her up. "Not now, we'll move faster." Peter rushed outside and looked around for Edmund. Edmund had already mounted his horse and was keeping watch. Peter placed Aleena on the horse before pushing himself on. While Peter and Edmund looked around for any signs of danger, Reepicheep and his men filed into the multiple pouches which had been added to the horses' saddle, hoping to make their escape more efficient and faster. 6 pouches had been placed on each saddle, each pouch fitting two. As the last mouse shoved himself into his pouch, an alarm went off.

"I didn't even see anyone," Edmund yelled to Peter as he kicked the sides of his horse. Peter followed Edmund's lead and they quickly galloped off. Edmund went slightly slower than Peter seeing as he had to make sure none of the mice feel out. Peter, however, had Aleena attempt to hold as many as the pouches shut as possible. Every time a pouch opened, Aleena's hands would fly toward it to push it back shut.

Above him, the archers had instantly noticed Peter and Edmund's mad dash towards their camp. Having trained in the dark for the last couple of days, the archers aim – particularly Susan's – would deter any Kangan soldier from entering a 1 mile radius of Peter and Edmund. Caspian, however, had ordered as many of the camps to be packed up while they waited for their chance to battle.

"Go," Peter yelled as he whizzed by, "They've got it." Momentarily stunned by the sudden appearance of Peter and Edmund, Caspian paused to evaluate what had just happened. He turned around to the archers to see them dominating their current skirmish.

"You heard him," Caspian yelled to his men as he turned his horse around, "Head back." While Caspian and his soldiers tried to distance themselves as far away from the battle raging only a couple of miles ahead of them, the archers took down most of the oncoming opponents. Once, Caspian had evacuated his troops, the archers fled, leaving the Kangans tired and confused. But due to the Narnians latest actions, they were now officially involved in the war.

**A/N: Okay, so i have a legitimate reason for why I broke the pattern, and it'll be described in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6 AN

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

Okay, so I know I broke the pattern last chapter by updating before I got my ten reviews, but, unfortunately for my friend (co-writer) and I, we have finals coming up. Starting next week, we will be studying almost all the time, and will not have any time to update or write a new chapter. We've both decided that unless we get 15 reviews, we're going to try and avoid updating. You're more than welcome to review and help us get to that goal, but until June 17th, we're going to be a little inactive. We really do encourage reviews, because there is always a chance that we'll have some time to write a chapter, and if we have enough reviews we will update. Along with that, we love love love love LOVE when we get reviews from you guys, so if you feel like adding some sunshine to our finals-dominated week you know what to do. We also felt that maybe we'd like to add another couple pairing:

EdmundxOC

or

Peter/OC/OC - or a love triangle.

or

Aleena/OC

We'd really like you're opinion on this, and you're more than likely to vote multiple times, in fact we encourage it. So untill we meet again, or you review : ), we bid you adieu.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Welcome and Unwelcome Faces**

After a couple of days resting, Aleena's leg was almost healed. She still walked with a noticeable limp, but the pain had receded. Although, in her eyes, she was completely able to handle herself, everyone else strongly disagreed. Immediately after returning, Peter had stationed two guards outside her room at all times in case the Kangans tried to attack again. Lucy refused to leave Aleena's side, and would scream for Peter every time Aleena even tried to escape from her room.

"This is pathetic," Aleena said groaning as she talked to Lucy, "I am not staying in here for one more minute." She pushed herself upwards, and proceeded to limp towards the doorway.

"PETER!" Lucy screamed as she followed Aleena.

"He's not going to stop me," Aleena argued as she limped towards the door. She flung open the door and paused to speak to the guards. "If you try to stop me, I swear I will beat both of you with your own weapons." She stood there daring them to stop her. They glanced at each other, and then took a step backwards. "Thank you."

"What is it, Lu," Peter asked as he ran towards her. Lucy pointed towards who Aleena, who was glaring at him as though daring him to stop her. "What are you doing?"

"I am escaping from my prison," she answered placing emphasis on the word "prison". "This is absolutely ridiculous; I am not staying in this castle for a minute longer. It is driving me insane"

"Hey where'd you go, Peter, I thought we…," Edmund stopped as he ran up next to Aleena, "Oh, Never mind then."

"No," Aleena demanded as she turned to face Edmund, "What were you going to do?" From behind her, Peter signaled for Edmund to remain silent.

"We were going to polish armor," said Edmund slowly. He looked towards Peter who nodded.

"Really," Aleena said slowly, "Let's ask Lucy." She turned to face Lucy, who was staring at the floor. "Are they really going to polish armor?"

Lucy struggled to come up with an appropriate response, "No." She let out a sigh, but soon found herself staring at an angry Peter and Edmund. "You two can stop looking at me like that because you both know that I can't lie."

"Would you like to tell me what you were actually going to do?" Aleena demanded once again, "Or do I have to jump out of that window?" She pointed towards the nearest window she could find.

"We were just going riding," said Peter in defeat.

"Oh," said Aleena happily, "I want to come, and don't you dare say no."

"What happens if I do?" asked Peter.

"I'm working on it,"

"Come on Peter," Lucy started, "Let her go, I'm sure she'll be fine." Peter looked at Aleena skeptically.

"Fine," he said slowly. Aleena smiled, and with the help of Lucy, made her way down to the stable with Peter and Edmund. After they had chosen their horses out of the extensive collection available to them, Peter, Aleena, Edmund, and Lucy set out towards the forest nearby.

As they rode through the forest, they all enjoyed the temporary break from the battle awaiting them. None of them had expected the Kangans to be as dormant as they had been, but they used this interval of peace to their advantage. While waiting for an attack, they had managed to come up with multiple battle plans, increase security, and rally more troops. After days of preparation and planning, everyone was glad to spend some time relaxing. Caspian and Susan, however, had opted not to go riding with the others, and they had instead decided on some "alone time" together.

"Slow down," Aleena said laughing as she called out to Peter. Peter came to a halt, and slowly rode towards Aleena.

"What's wrong?" he said jokingly, "Can't keep up?"

"No," she said craning her head around, "I just can't see Edmund and Lucy."

"What?" Peter said; worry starting to stretch across his face.

"Don't worry," she said as she continued to look around, "I'm sure they are fine. We'll just double back and look for them." Peter nodded, and they quickly turned and came back the way they came. After a couple of minutes of searching they spotted both Lucy and Edmund staring off into the middle of the forest.

"Don't disappear like that," Peter said as he rode up to Edmund, "We had no idea where you guys went." Edmund and Lucy continued to stare off into the distance. "Hey, what are you looking at?"

Raising her hand and pointing forward, "Smoke."

"What?" Aleena said startled. She followed Lucy's finger until she to could see a trail of smoke leading towards the sky. She turned towards Peter, who was also staring at the smoke with a stunned expression. "You don't think..."

"No," he started, "It can't be. They'd never come this close."

Edmund, understanding what was running through his sibling's mind, "What do we do know?"

"We have to go closer," Aleena argued, "At least close enough to see if it's a Kangan camp." The moment Aleena said Kangan, Lucy stared at her in horror.

"4 people against an army?" she said quietly. Aleena nodded slowly arching her head to see over a patch of bushes.

"Couldn't we just send Reepicheep in?" asked Edmund.

"We could," Peter started, "But that would waste valuable time. Time we could spend preparing if that is a Kangan camp."

"Peter and I will go ahead," Aleena started, "We'll signal you if it's safe to come." Edmund nodded, and grabbed hold of Aleena's reigns while she got off her horse.

"Don't you think with your leg, it would be smarter if Edmund and I checked?" Peter said hesitantly as he got of his horse and handed the reigns to Lucy.

"Don't even try," she said as she walked slowly towards the smoke. Peter stared up at Edmund and shrugged. Peter followed after Aleena who was now at least 10 feet ahead of him.

"Hurry up," Aleena whispered as she crept forward. Peter sped up until he was only a few feet behind her. Once they were about 15 feet from the smoke, Peter and Aleena stopped and peered through the brush.

"Can you see anything?" Peter whispered.

"All I can see are two tents. I doubt this is a Kangan," she was cut short, however, by the rustling of tent flaps. "Shh…" They focused in on the tents as someone stepped out of the closest tent. Peering through the bushes, Aleena and Peter tried to see who had emerged from the tent. Finally whoever had emerged turned around to face the bushes.

"Sasha?" Aleena whispered softly as she scanned her face, "Oh my god, Sasha!" Aleena burst out of the bushes and ran into the camp.

"Aleena!" Peter whispered after her. After waiting a couple of seconds, he followed her out towards the camp. When he entered the camp, he found himself marveling at the sight of Aleena talking excitedly to "Sasha". Aleena turned around to see Peter staring at them awkwardly.

"Oh, Sasha," Aleena said introducing Sasha to Peter, "This is High King Peter of Narnia, and Peter this is my cousin Sasha."

"Nice to meet you," Peter said shaking Sasha's hand, "And please just call me Peter." Sasha looked like an exact replicate of Aleena, minus roughly 4 years. Unlike Aleena however, her hair had been tied up in a high ponytail that fell to the middle of her back.

"Likewise," Sasha said smiling, "I was just filling Aleena in on what's happened in Tashbaan." When she said Tashbaan the smile on her face faded into a slight frown.

"What's wrong?" asked Peter as he signaled towards Edmund and Lucy. He could see their small figures riding towards them.

"Do you want to start off with the bad news, the worse news, the even worse news, or the worst news?" Sasha said sadly.

"There's no good news?" Aleena said worry spread evenly on her face. Sasha shook her head sadly.

"Start with the bad news," Peter said as he walked towards Aleena and placed his hands on her shoulders. Sasha paused, smiling, to take in the sight of Aleena unconsciously leaning into Peter..

"Bad news," she started, "I hate to be the one to tell you this Aleena, but your father died. He was defending the northern boundaries and an arrow pierced cleanly through his heart." Aleena's knees seemed to give out and Peter had to catch her as she crumpled.

"Dead?" she said softly, fighting the urge to cry and throw up. She might not have liked her father, but he was a good king. He was someone who always put the kingdom first, even in front of his family.

"I'm sorry, but I think you know what this means,"

"I'm queen, aren't I?" she said even softer, now completely relying on Peter for support.

"I'm sorry, but it gets worse," Sasha said pure distress on her face. "You know Tashbaan tradition." Edmund and Lucy arrived, and Sasha took a moment to look at them.

"I do," Aleena replied.

"I don't," said Peter as he continued to hold up Aleena.

"Tashbaan's pass power through blood, gender plays no role in the making of rulers; however, before a prince or princess can take power, he or she must be married," Sasha explained, which caused Aleena to completely collapse against the floor. Peter and Sasha rushed to her side and helped her up slowly.

"Why?" asked Peter as he continued to support Aleena.

"It's to make sure that the king or queen is intent on continuing the blood line," Sasha explained softly as she looked sympathetically at Aleena.

"What's the even worse news," Aleena whispered.

"Your sister is protesting your coronation," Sasha said. This time, however, Aleena did not fall back.

"It's not like I didn't expect this," Aleena replied, "I always knew this would happen."

"Yes, but she might actually succeed," Sasha said to the complete shock of Aleena. "She is getting married to Councilman Zalhan's son. Unfortunately, she fits most of the criteria. She's taken your absence as a sign of abandonment. She's pleading to the council members that you are no longer fit to rule."

"Like she ever was!" Aleena yelled. "She has never once cared about any of them. She just loved the feeling of being in charge."

"I know," Sasha said comfortingly, "and it still gets worse. The only honest councilmen left have sent you a possible spouse."

"What!" exclaimed both Peter and Aleena.

"I thought I heard something," said a deep voice from within the second tent. Suddenly the tent opened up, and out stepped the most pompous, self-centered, egotistical bachelor to ever set foot in Tashbaan. "Oh, princess, or should I say queen."

"Lord Zaiir," he said as he bowed down in front of Aleena. He pulled her forward out of Peter's reach, and kissed her hand.

"Queen Aleena," she said somewhat disgusted. She pulled her hand away from him quickly and stepped back towards Peter. "This is High King Peter of Narnia." She stressed the High King, and smiled up at Peter.

"A pleasure," Peter forced himself to say as he nodded towards Lord Zaiir.

"Well, Peter," Zaiir started until he was interrupted by Peter.

"It's actually King Peter," Peter interrupted. Aleena, Sasha, Edmund, and Lucy tried to cover up a laugh. It was obvious to all that Peter and Zaiir had already started to hate each other.

"I'm sorry, King Peter," Zaiir started, "but if possible I would like to request a private audience with Queen Aleena."

"I don't think so," both Aleena and Peter said quickly. They looked at each other and blushed slightly, much to the disappointment of Zaiir.

"What they mean is," started Lucy diplomatically, "That the woods are no place for such a discussion. We'd love for you all to stay with us back at the castle."

"We would?" asked Aleena and Peter simultaneously.

"Yes, we would." Lucy replied, shooting a glare at the two.

"I'll ride with Peter, so you can take my horse," Aleena said quickly to Zaiir. Zaiir forced a smile, and took the reins Edmund handed to him.

"You can ride with me if you'd like," Edmund said to Sasha, seeing as he'd missed the introductions.

"I'd love to," Sasha said smiling as allowed Edmund to help her up, "Sasha."

"Edmund," he replied smiling back. Peter helped Aleena onto his horse, and she laid her head on his back. She tried not to cry, but everyone there knew that she was screwed.

**A/N: As you can obviously tell, we've had some extra time to write up another long chapter. My psychotic French teacher gave us practically an entire work hour so I spent it writing this. Now that finals are almost – 5 days to be exact – over, I'm going to switch back to the usual pattern. 10 reviews new chapter. So review if you want another chapter. : ) **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 – Cliffhangers**

**A/N: Sorry it took forever to update. I was in Canada, home of the elegant moose. YAY elegance!! Anyway, hope up like this chapter.**

**P.S. Sorry if the grammer and stuff is a bit off, but my co-wrighter has been temporarily unavailable to edit - 'cause that's what she does best.**

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER MAY LEAD TO SOME MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH (now, don't you want to read to see who may die??)**

"Susan," whispered Aleena as she knocked on the door to Susan's room. Ever since Aleena had found out she was now queen, and had to come up with an "appropriate" husband, she had spent every minute of her day avoiding Zaiir. She knocked again wondering if Susan was in her room at all. It was quite late, but perhaps Susan had gone of to talk privately with Caspian once again. Suddenly the door swung open instead of seeing Susan, however, she saw an angry Caspian storm out. Looking over her shoulder at Caspian, she walked in.

"Susan," she said again, this time louder, "Susan is everything alright?"

"No," Susan said softly, "I think he's mad at me."

"Why would he be mad at you?" Aleena asked as she sat next to Susan.

"Because he walked on in on that freak Zaiir as he flirting with me," Susan said trying to hold back tears. Aleena felt her blood boil. Ever since Zaiir had arrived he had become hated by, not only the kings and queens, but every citizen of Narnia. He walked around like he owned the place, and demanded the Narnians to do things the kings and queens would never have dreamed of.

"I'll kill him," Aleena said angrily. This was the first time in quite a while that her true personality had shined through her extremely depressed exterior. Susan chuckled, but she frowned again quickly.

"It's not really that though," Susan replied trying to calm Aleena down, "It's more of the awkward questions that followed."

"What awkward questions?" Aleena asked confused.

"The awkward questions like what we're going to do after the war is over, or whether or not this relationship is worth pursuing because of the," she paused to think, "Unusual circumstances."

"Well, at least you guys have discussed it," Aleena replied, "Peter and I haven't talked since Zaiir showed up." Aleena frowned a little. Ever since Peter had found out about Aleena's, also unusual, situation, he had been avoiding her. Every time she came close to Peter, he would come up with some random excuse to leave. The only method of contact between the two of them was Lucy, who was equally unpleased that Aleena and Peter could no longer be together.

"I forgot," Susan said quickly, "Your situation is definitely worse then mine." Once Peter, Aleena, Lucy, Edmund, Sasha, and Zaiir had arrived back at the castle, Aleena had fled to her room hoping to avoid Zaiir. This left an uncomfortable Peter to explain to Susan and Caspian what had happened. After

"Of course not," Aleena lied, "I'm now officially a queen. That's a good thing right?" Susan raised her eyebrow at Aleena, and Aleena sighed. "Okay, so my situation sucks, but I think I've found a way to fix it."

"How?"

"I've been thinking of going back to Tashbaan," Aleena started slowly.

"What!" Susan yelled standing up. "Are you crazy?"

"I have to go and at least argue my point to the other rulers, or else they're going to put my sister in charge," Aleena argued back.

"You are not going by yourself, it is way too dangerous," Susan said calming down.

"I know," she said smiling evilly, "So I'm thinking you, Peter, and Caspian come with me." Susan' paused to think about Aleena's offer.

"Once again," Susan started, "Are you crazy? My brother and you are fighting, Caspian and I are fighting, and what are we supposed to do about Zaiir?"

"Tie him in a closet and feed him to a centaur," Aleena said plainly.

"I couldn't do that," Susan said trying to hide back a laugh, "I'd feel bad for the centaur." Aleena and Susan laughed, momentarily forgetting about their own personal troubles.

"Hey Susan," Peter said as he walked through the door. When he spotted Aleena he froze, looked at both of them, and then quickly left. "Sorry, I have to go," he muttered as he ran out.

"I'm sorry," Aleena said as she ran out following Peter. Susan sat there alone for a moment to think. She lay back on her bead, and continued to think about her and Caspian's situation.

Aleena ran after Peter hoping to talk to him, but instead ran into an arguing Caspian and Zaiir.

"What's going on here?" asked Aleena as she walked up to Caspian.

"We were discussing something personal," said Caspian harshly as he glared at Zaiir.

"I know about the flirting thing," Aleena whispered to Caspian.

"Ah," Zaiir said as Aleena turned around to face him, "I finally see you since I have arrived. I do think you owe me a private conversation."

"I do," Aleena said slowly.

"Shall we," Zaiir said as he pointed towards an empty deliberation room. Aleena nodded and Zaiir walked in.

"Stay out here, and if I scream you better come in there and save me from him," Aleena demanded, "And if you don't you are going to have to deal with an emotionally scarred lunatic." Caspian nodded, and stood right next to the door frame. "Good." Aleena took a deep breath and joined Zaiir.

"Aleena," Zaiir said as he closed the door, "I really have been thinking about this relationship that has been thrust upon us."

"No," she interrupted, "Thrust upon me. You had a choice, I didn't."

"I thought this was what you wanted," he argued starting to sound angry.

"No," she argued back, "This was what you and some old men wanted. Personally I want no part of this stupid relationship."

"This is definitely not stupid," he said taking a step towards her, "This was a diplomatic relationship chosen for its added benefits."

"Oh, so now I'm a benefit," she said taking a step backwards. He took yet another step forward, and she, once again, took a step backwards.

"Of course I'm all right with that, either way it works out for me," Zaiir said somewhat evilly.

"Excuse me?"

"Your sister promised me part of the kingdom even if you refused to marry me, all I had to do was get you out of the way,"

"Define out of the way," she said trying to back up. She felt her back slide up against the wall. She opened her mouth to yell out for Caspian, when she felt Zaiir's hand covering her mouth.

"My way," he said as he slid his hand into his pocket. He slowly pulled a small silver dagger out. Aleena's eyes opened as she struggled to pull herself out from underneath him.

"Now I think you have a choice to make," Zaiir said as he used his free hand to play with dagger. She continued to struggle from underneath him as he pinned her down with one hand. Pushing herself towards the floor, Aleena managed to slide out a little from underneath him. Zaiir dropped his dagger in an effort to hold her down. She took this opportunity to kick the dagger at least 5 feet away from them.

Outside, Caspian could her faint noises from within the room. He tried to focus in on the noise when he found himself distracted by Edmund and Sasha.

"What are you doing?" asked Edmund as they walked towards him.

"Aleena's finally talking with Zaiir. She asked me to be here incase anything took a turn for the worse," Caspian replied. They heard a crash from inside a room.

"Nice work," said Edmund sarcastically.

"She's probably throwing things," Caspian explained, "It's been going on for a while. She said she'd yell if anything was wrong."

"I wouldn't believe that if I were you," Sasha worried, "When we were coming, he was talking about how she'd marry him or else. Whenever I asked by 'or else' he said that it would never come to that."

Back inside the room, Aleena continued to fight with Zaiir. By now he still had her mouth covered, but he had kicked her where her leg was healing. She tried to let out a scream, but all that came out was a blur. Using this to his advantage, he pulled her over towards where the dagger was. As he leaned down to pick up the dagger, Aleena brought up her knee to a very uncomforable spot.

"Ow," he said as he fell to the ground.

"Caspian," Aleena yelled as she ran towards the door. Before she could reach it, however, she felt her leg fall from beneath her. Zaiir had pulled her down towards the floor.

"Did you here that?" Edmund asked Caspian from the other side of the door. Before he could even reply, Caspian had forced open the doors. As he looked around he saw Aleena on the floor dodging blows from Zaiir.

"Get Peter," Caspian yelled towards Edmund and Sasha as he ran towards Aleena. Edmund nodded and they ran off to find Peter.

"Get off me," Aleena yelled as she struggled to get out from underneath him. Caspian rushed up towards her and attempted to pull Zaiir off of her. Zaiir turned around and balled his hand into a fist and thrust it at Caspian. Caspian continuously ducked while Zaiir continued to throw punches, only hitting Caspian once. Aleena used this distraction to get herself off of the floor. She grabbed the dagger, trying to get it as far away from Zaiir as possible. Zaiir, however, suddenly turned around to see her holding the dagger. He lunged at her, trying desperately to grab the knife out of her hand.

"Caspian," she yelled as she tried to hand him the knife. Zaiir noticed her actions and pushed himself between the two in a brash attempt to push the knife out of her hands. Instead, he tripped over the multiple legs surrounding him, and found himself crashing towards the sharp edge of the knife. Stumbling to regain his balance, Zaiir thrashed around trying to get a hold of anything he could. The only thing within his reach was the sleeve of Aleena's dress. Suddenly, they both found themselves falling towards the dagger on the floor. The only problem was that the tip of the dagger was pointing towards them.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Plans**

**Warning: This chapter DOES contain character death.**

Aleena struggled to free herself, but Zaiir was attempting to use her as a human shield against the dagger. Caspian instantly saw the situation slowly unfolding in front of him. He lunged forward and grabbed Aleena's free sleeve. Pulling her backwards, and out of Zaiir's reach, they fell onto the floor with a loud thump.

"Are you okay," Caspian said as he stood up. He extended his hand and pulled Aleena up.

"Other than a couple of uncomfortable bruises, and probably a re-damaged leg I should be all right," she tapped her leg and winced uncomfortably, "Yes I definitely hurt my leg again." She paused for a moment to look at the bottom of Caspian's pants. "Oh my god, you're bleeding."

"What?" he asked as he followed her eyes to the bottom of his pants, "I don't feel like I'm bleeding." He lifted up his pant leg and found that the blood had not come from his own legs. As they followed the blood they found a face down Zaiir lying in a pool of his own blood.

"Oh my god," Aleena said as she covered her mouth. They stood there and stared unsure of what to do.

"What," Peter ran in and looked in on Zaiir's body, "Oh wow."

"I don't know what happened," Aleena said softly as she walked towards the blood. She leaned down and stared at his body.

"I heard yelling," Susan said as she, along with Edmund, Lucy, and Sasha, followed Peter into the room.

"Take Lucy out of here," Peter asked Edmund.

"I got it," said Sasha as she tried to pull draw Lucy away. Even after Lucy was gone from the room, they could hear her down the hallway protesting.

"What happened?" Edmund said as he walked up towards the body.

"He tried to kill me," said Aleena as if though she could not believer her own ears.

"No," Susan said, also in disbelief, as she placed her finger to Zaiir's temple, "Well, he's definitely dead."

"I think we figured that out by the level of blood," said Caspian. Susan looked up and stared at him. They caught each other's eyes for a moment before pulling away.

"I think that it is time for me to go back to Tashbaan and sort out this mess," Aleena said softly.

"What?" Peter confused. "Why would you go to the place that sent someone to kill you?"

"To figure out why someone was sent to kill me?" Aleena explained.

"You are not going alone," argued Caspian.

"I'll go with her," Susan piped up smiling at Aleena, "I'd love to go back to Tashbaan after all these years."

"You are not going to cross a desert full of evil soldiers," argued Peter. Caspian looked back at Susan, worry forming on his face.

"You two are more than welcome to come," Aleena interrupted, "I'm sure Edmund can handle Narnia."

"I'm sure I can too," Edmund added. Both Peter and Caspian glared at him. "What?"

"If it'll make you feel better, Sasha could stay here with him too," Aleena said. She pushed herself upwards from the side of the body. She looked up at Peter, "Whether or not you come with me, it's time for me to deal with my country's problems."

"Well," Caspian started after a long period of silence, "I think that I will join you. I have not yet been to Tashbaan, and this might be a good diplomatic choice on my behalf."

"That just leaves Peter," Edmund said as he stared at Peter hopefully. Even when Peter was away, Edmund was never actually left in charge. Every time Peter wasn't in charge, Susan was, and there was never a time when both of them were absent.

It wasn't that Peter did not want to go with Aleena. In fact, it would give him no greater joy, but she had to get married. He could not keep her from that. If Aleena had known why Peter was now giving her the silent treatment, she would have slapped him right across his face.

"Caspian," Susan said as she jerked her head towards the exit, "I think we should leave." Caspian nodded, and pulled Edmund out with them.

"Come on," they heard Edmund yell from down the hall, "I want to see this."

"Peter," Aleena started trying to break the awkward silence, "Is there something wrong?" Peter squirmed uncomfortably. "So there is something wrong?"

"No," he said finally giving in, "I just don't know exactly where we stand, or should stand."

"What do you mean?" Aleena asked as she stared at him, confusion covering her face.

"I mean that you have to get married," he placed extra emphasis on the word married.

"And that causes a problem why?" she asked calmly. Peter stared at her stunned.

"You don't see the problem here?" he asked shocked.

"Well, it's not like I'm going to get married," Aleena said as she rolled her eyes, "I'm not going to let a bunch of old men choose someone for me to marry me. That is just unacceptable."

"I don't really think you have a choice in this matter," Peter argued back.

"That's why I need to go back to and try and convince them against it, and I'd really like it if you came with me," Aleena said as she placed her hand on his arm, "I would really really like it." He pulled away from her.

"We can't exactly make this go away can us though?" Peter argued back. "We are ignoring the fact that we are from two completely different worlds, not to mention time periods."

"Yes, and we can deal with those problems when it's time for you to go back," she said calmly, "This is now, and now is more important." Peter stared at her.

"Now," he said softly, "Now, people are trying to kill you. Now, we have a war raging on. And now we have a very big problem in our relationship."

"We're in relationship?" she asked smiling.

"Not the right time to be discussing this," Peter said stunned.

"Okay," she said, still smiling, "How about you come to Tashbaan with me, and we sort out this mess before you leave."

"That's not going to make the problem disappear,"

"I hate to break your bubble," Aleena said as she stared at Zaiir, "But we've got a lot of problems."

"That's a comforting thought," Peter said a hint of a smile on his face. Aleena laughed as she slapped his arm playfully.

"So I'm guessing you'll come," she said smiling.

He paused thinking it over, "Yes."

"Good get ready to go," she said as she took one final glance at Zaiir's body, "I want to leave by tomorrow morning."

"Why so early?" he asked as they exited the room. Aleena paused to close the doors.

"I want to get there before my sister has a time to trick the council into making her queen," she said as she wrapped her arm around his.

"What exactly is your plan," he said as they continued walking towards Aleena's room.

"As of now," she paused pretending to think, "Just get there."

"You don't honestly think they're just going to forget about the whole marriage clause do you," Peter said pretending to be shocked.

"Oh yes," she said playing along, "All I had to do was flash them a smile and they'd forget all about it."

"Yes, you and your wonderful smile," he said rolling his eyes.

"Oh, so I see you two have stopped fighting," said Lucy smiling, "So what's this I hear about a Zaiir being dead."

"What?!" both Aleena and Peter exclaimed.

"How do you know about that," Aleena said staring at her worry forming on her face.

"Well," Lucy started, "When I left I wondered why I had to leave, so I found Reepicheep, who said he didn't know but would find out. So he went and talked to one of his men, who apparently overheard Edmund, Susan, and Caspian about Zaiir being dead, and then Reepicheep told me."

"Okay, we get the point," interrupted Peter.

"Lucy," they heard Sasha yelling, "Lucy." She rounded the corner and found herself staring at Aleena and Peter. "Whatever she did, or found out, I had nothing to do with it."

"I know," said Aleena laughing.

"So," Lucy started, "Can I please know what exactly is going on."

"Susan, Caspian, Aleena, and I are going back to Tashbaan. Zaiir tried to kill Aleena, we're going to go back and help her fix this entire mess," Peter explained to Lucy and Sasha.

"Wait a second," Sasha started, "Two questions. First, who's going to rule Narnia, and second, Zaiir tried to kill you?"

"Answering your first question," Aleena started, "You and Edmund are. While we're gone, you and Edmund are in charge. Secondly, yes Zaiir tried to kill me for reasons unknown to all of us."

"Wait," Sasha said, "I am not a ready to rule anything. Technically I am not even royalty."

"You're third in line for the throne," Aleena argued back. Sasha groaned and ran her hand through her hair.

"I was assured by my father that there was about a 1 in a billion chance of me taking the throne," she said.

"Well, if it ever happens, you should practice," Aleena said patting her on the back.

"I'll do it, but I will not like it," she argued back

"Thanks," Aleena said as she hugged Sasha, "We have to get ready to go." She let go of Sasha, and rewrapped her arm around Peter.

**A/N: Wow, I got a lot of lovely reviews for the last chapter. Thanks to all who reviewed. Keep coming, I really enjoy hearing what you have to say. Anyway, here's another poll:**

**Would you rather:**

**1) See what happens to Peter/Susan/Aleena/Caspian**

**OR**

**2) See what happens to Lucy/ Edmund/ Sasha**

**You will get to see both, but I'd like to know which one to start with. So review with ur answer. : )**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 – Hasty Arrangements**

**A/N: Yeah, so thanks for the reviews. I luved them!! They made me smile, anyway, as usual ten reviews gets you guys another chapter. So, just for your information, Susan/Aleena/Caspian/Peter won so here's what happens to them.**

It took them an unusually short period of time to get to Tashbaan. They had taken both Reepicheep and a few of his men, expecting an attack, but not a single came. An entire week of camping then riding, camping then riding, and camping then riding over and over. Everything remained quiet and peaceful. It was not as if though they were complaining, they quite enjoyed the break from battles and rules. They were not prepared, however, for what they would see when they finally arrived in Tashbaan.

The moment they arrived the first thing they heard was the gasp from Aleena. Her usually bright and active kingdom was bare and quiet. There were only a couple of souls wandering the streets, while others clung to the sides of buildings. Instead of street vendors watching over customers, there were ransacked boutiques lying on the sides of the streets. After Aleena left, and the death of her father, chaos had broken out. Thieves and marauders ransacked cities, leaving business destroyed, while others hid in their homes for protection.

"What happened?" Peter said a tad to loudly causing one of the beggars walking by to look up at them and stare. At first the beggar stood staring at them before he ran into one of the homes.

"Well that was a warm welcome," Caspian stated as he jumped of his horse. He held on tightly to the reigns, hoping that his horse would remain safe. Suddenly out of nowhere, a flood of people rushed out of the desecrated homes.

"Queen Aleena," thousands of them screamed trying to get ahold of her. Aleena stared wide-eyed at the hordes of people now attacking them.

"Do something before they kill us," Susan screamed over the roar of noise coming from all around them. Aleena looked frantically at Peter, her mind trying to remember everything she had learned from her father. Cautiously, she raised her hand slowly trying to silence the sea of people. They all fell silent.

"I know you want to know what's going on," she paused to breathe, "But I don't know." The crowd errupted into screams again, but Aleena raised her hand again, this time more fiercly. "I'm going to find out, but you need to direct me to Ca – I mean Advisor Caleb?"

"Move it you old hag," they heard from the middle of the mob. They could slowly see the mob part to allow a boy the same age as Aleena walk up to them. He turned around and thanked them quickly.

"Caleb!" Aleena exclaimed as she jumped off her horse to hug him – which caused Peter to tense up behind her, "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

"Nice to see you too," he said as became serious, "Now could you please tell the man who has been trying to fix your pretty messed up situation where you have been?"

"I'll tell you once we get back to the castle," she whispered as she motioned towards the eagerly listening townspeople.

"Right," he said as he turned around to face Peter, Aleena, and Caspian, "I have no idea who you are, but I now we'll be introduced later, so I suggest you follow us back to the castle." Susan stared at Caspian her eyebrows arched in confusion; Caspian shrugged back and started to follow Aleena. Once they were out of earshot, they started to talk.

"Guys," Aleena said talking to Susan, Caspian, and Peter, "This is my advisor, Caleb. He pretty much saves my butt everytime I mess up."

"It is such a great job," he said sarcastically, "Actually; I didn't really have a choice in the matter. Everyone in my family has advised everyone in her family."

"And you guys do a great job," she said as she smiled at him, "Oh, and this is Queen Susan, King Caspian, and King Peter of Narnia." Caleb nodded to each of them acknowledging each of them.

"Nice to meet you," he started, "Now would you like to tell me why you have been gone for three weeks?" turning back to Aleena.

"Well, it took me a little over a week and a half to get there because of the Kangans, then I was kidnapped by the Kangans, and then I got stuck with Zaiir – who by the way tried to kill me," she paused to breathe, "What idiots choose him?"

"The only good council members," he paused to interpret what she'd just said, "Wait, he tried to kill you?"

"Yes, I'll talk about it later. When is the council going to vote on whether or not I get to be queen?"

"Oh," Caleb answered as he pretended to think, "Right about now." By now they had finally arrived at the Tashbaan castle. In front of them lay an extremely intricate castle. Instead of one huge structure, there were multiple small ones – each one for each of the six regions of Tashbaan- which formed a circle. In the center of the circle lay a larger dome which was where the council members would meet to discuss issues.

"What?" Aleena exclaimed as she let go of her horse, "What are we doing here?" She ran towards the central dome. Taking more time, Susan, Peter, and Caspian slowly handed off their horses to servants who had appeared. Standing at the entrance was Aleena trying extremely hard to look "presentable".

"Don't fix anything," Caleb demanded, "You want them to think you endured a lot. Also, if you can, try to gain as much sympathy as you can."

"Got it," Aleena said as she raised her hand towards the door handle, "Wait, do I go for a dramatic entrance?"

Caleb stared at her in disbelief, "Just go."

"Dramatic it is," she said as she used her hands to shove open the doors. The large oak doors slammed against the sides of the building. Aleena stared up at the 5 faces staring at her, not counting their advisors, and her sister standing at the head of the table. "You're kind of in my seat Almira." Her sister forced a smile and stood up, scraping the chair against the floor.

"Not for long Aleena," Almira said as she moved out of the way. Almira was nothing like her sister. Her hair had been cropped to fall just above her shoulders, while Aleena's fell below her shoulders. Almira was also power-hungry. Ever since she was little she had longed for power. Unlike her sister, however, she did not learn any of the lessons or skills a true queen would have learned. Instead she manipulated council members and their advisor's to get what she wanted.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Aleena said as she walked towards her seat.

"So you are getting married," one of the council members, her uncle, asked hopefully. Being in the family, her uncle knew that Almira was not queen material, but rules were rules.

"Not exactly," Aleena said fidgeting slowly. While traveling to Tashbaan, Aleena had thought of thousands of reasons why she should still be queen, but, as she stood there standing in front of the council, she could not think of a single one.

"Then we have a problem," Councilman Asher, Almira's soon to be father-in-law, "You know what the rules say."

"Yes," Aleena argued, "But Almira is not qualified. Tashbaan is in need of a queen who is prepared to lead, not someone who wants the throne for the power and the perks. You choose Almira and you are pretty much destroying all hope for Tashbaan."

"Hope," Asher said sarcastically, "Where have you been? You've been missing for weeks. You weren't even there to bury your father." A few council members nodded in agreement, waiting eagerly for Aleena's response.

"I couldn't," Aleena tried to argue back.

"That's not really an excuse," Asher argued back coldly. Asher wanted Almira to become queen more than anything. With his daughter-in-law in power, he would have complete control over the council. He knew very well that Almira would be a failure as a queen, but this would give him more power and eventually lead to him taking the throne.

"It is if you're being held hostage by the Kangans," Aleena yelled back. The council men gasped and started to talk amongst themselves. Almira remained silent and unmoving.

"Why?" Aleena's uncle said quietly, "The Kangans had already killed of the king, why would they need the princess?"

"Because," Almira interrupted, speaking for the first time since she had been pushed aside, "She's not married. If any Kangan warlord married her they would instantly take control. This is why the queen has to be married." In the corner near the entrance, Peter, Susan, and Caspian stood staring at each other. That possibility hadn't even occurred to them, and they could already sense Peter starting to worry.

"Exactly why you have to be married," Asher argued maliciously. He grinned evilly at Aleena. It took her roughly three seconds to figure out exactly what Asher was planning to do.

"Well seeing as I refuse point-blankly," Aleena could tell that her argument was failing. She stared desperately towards Caleb who stared back at her blankly.

"So, you're forfeiting your throne," Asher said smiling, seeing that he had won.

"I am not doing anything like that," Aleena said struggling to fight back. She looked desperately at Peter. As she looked at him, Peter tried to think of anything to help her. Reepicheep had finally arrived after seeing that his men were being taken well care of.

"What's going on," Reepicheep asked as he climbed on top of Caspian's shoulder. Seeing as during such debates people tended to overlook him because of his size, he had gotten used to arguing from atop Caspian's shoulder.

"Aleena's losing," Caspian whispered to Reepicheep. Susan turned around and motioned for them to be quiet.

"Who are your friends," Aleena's uncle said trying to distract Asher, giving Aleena time to think of points to boost her argument.

"I would like to introduce you to the reason I have been gone, and the reason I am alive," Aleena said majestically as she motioned towards the kings and queen of Narnia, "This is Queen Susan, King Caspian, and King Peter of Narnia. They have agreed to aide us in our battle against the Kangans. King Caspian also saved me from an assassination attempt." Aleena added this knowing the council would go into frenzy, and she was right. From around the room, questions and comments arose.

"Who tried to kill you?" Aleena's uncle asked once peace had regained control of the council.

"Lord Zaiir," Aleena said calmly, "Who decided to send him?" The council members looked at each other trying to recall the events that had taken place.

"If I'm not mistaken," one of the councilmen from the back added quietly, "Wasn't it Princess Almira?"

"Why am I not surprised?" Aleena said as she stared coldly at her sister. Almira stared at Aleena daring her to protest. Almira knew she had won, Councilman Asher knew he had one, and the council knew Aleena had lost.

"She has no chance," Caleb whispered to Peter, "Tradition is the one thing these guys never stray from." Peter stared at Susan, and then stared at Aleena. They both knew that Aleena should have, no deserved, to be queen.

"We have to do something," Susan whispered, "She's going to lose the throne." It took Peter around 5 seconds to decide what exactly he was going to do to save Aleena's throne.

"What if she's getting married, but it's after her sister's wedding," Peter asked speaking for the first time. Aleena looked up at Peter confused. She had a rough idea of what was going on.

"One moment," Aleena said, "I have to discuss something with my companions." She smiled sweetly as she grabbed Peter, Susan, and Caspian's arms and pulled them outside. Caleb followed them outside and closed the doors firmly behind them.

"Would you like to explain to me what's going on?" Aleena said firmly as she stared at Peter.

"Well, I think we established that you pretty much failed at keeping your throne, so I figured out how to save your throne," he said cautiously. Susan, who had caught on instantly, tugged on Caspian's sleeve trying to get out of here before Aleena exploded.

"Don't move," Aleena said as Susan and Caspian edged away, "I would like to have a second opinion on this because if Peter's suggesting what I think he's suggesting then I have no comment."

"What exactly is he suggesting," asked Caleb who had not yet mastered the ability of reading between the lines.

"He's suggesting that we tell them that we are getting married, but we wait untill after the war's over. It will give us, or me, more time to sort out this mess," Aleena said quietly, "Could you excuse us." Caleb started to argue when Susan grabbed him and Caspian and pulled them away.

"Why do you always take us away from the good things," Caspian argued, "I really wanted to see the explosion."

"She's not going to explode," Susan said as she rolled her eyes, "She's going to ask him if he really wants to do this."

"And," Caleb asked. Caleb had gotten married last year and had lost the ability to hypothesize about social situations.

"And, he's going to say he loves her," Susan explained dreamily, basing her answers off of soap operas she had seen back in England. Caspian's mouth dropped open which caused Susan to stare at him in disdain.

"They met two weeks ago and they're already in love and getting married?" Caspian asked stunned.

"It's a fake marriage remember," Susan explained. Caleb shook his head.

"The council members won't fall for it," Caleb argued, "Knowing them, especially Asher; they'll force her to marry Peter before Almira's wedding."

"They'll cross that bridge when they get there," Susan explained diplomatically. Caspian rolled his eyes, whil Caleb looked at her skeptically.

"I highly doubt this will work," Caleb said shifting uncomfortably.

"So do I," Susan said smiling slightly, "So do I."

**Yeah, so, that's the end. YAY!! Anyway, I have another poll for you.**

**Do you want to see:**

**What happens with Susan/Aleena/Peter/Caspian**

**Or**

**What's happening with Edmund/Sasha/Lucy**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11 – Stakes**

"Check," Sasha said grinning as she took Edmund's rook with her bishop. Edmund stared at the chess board thinking.

"Not anymore," he said as he used his knight to get rid of her bishop. This was one of the multiple games of chess they had played in the last week. Edmund had expected ruling all of Narnia to be exciting, but it was the exact opposite. The only thing he heard was complaints from villagers who were disputing over who owned a certain piece of land. Sasha found it no easier attending, or excusing, herself from the multiple parties she had been invited to as the temporary queen. The only free time they had was spent talking, or, in this place, chess. Sasha was extremly good at chess, and easily beat Edmund. Lucy used this time to get herself acquainted with every Narnian she could. She found herself wandering aimlessly around Narnia, against Edmund's will of course, talking to any Narnian who wanted to discuss one issue or another.

"Check," Sasha started as she used her rook, "or should I say checkmate." Edmund stared blankly at the board and sighed. He pushed his king over in a sign of defeat.

"You've won every single game," he said grumpily, "I think you're cheating."

"Oh," Sasha replied a she faked sadness, "Now you've gone and hurt my feelings. I don't think I'll ever play chess with you again." They both laughed, but were interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

"Sorry to bother your Majesties," Trufflehunter said softly as he pushed the door open, "but there are some fauns who are requesting an audience with the both of you." Edmund groaned as he pushed himself out of his chair.

"If it's another dispute about who owns a tree I'm going to die," Sasha said as she followed Edmund down the hall. "I'm sorry, but there are more than enough trees in Narnia."

"I wish Peter and Caspian would just come home and deal with all of this," he added as he pushed open another set of doors.

"I'm glad I'll never be queen," Sasha added, "Although, having servants fufill your every desire is fun. Last night, one of the chefs baked me a chocolate cake because I blurted out earlier that I had a weird craving for chocolate in cake form." They laughed as they came towards the fauns.

"What seems to be the problem," Edmund asked as he turned towards the fauns, suddenly being extremely serious.

"Well," one of the fauns started to stutter, "Earlier today we were out searching for some new trees to scavenge by the Southern border, and we saw something that worried us."

"Yes," Sasha said kindly urging the faun to continue. The second faun nudged the first trying to get him to speak.

"We saw that some of the trees were," he paused to breathe, "destroyed."

"Destroyed?" Edmund asked surprised. In Narnia, it was a criminal offense to destroy trees. Trees had feelings here, and destruction was equal to murder. The moment Lucy became queen she had instated multiple rules and regulations about the destruction of trees.

"Yes," the second faun continued, "It seemed as if though they had been cleared out."

"Cleared out," Sasha said quietly as she glanced towards Edmund. There may have been a legitimate reason why the trees were destroyed – forest fires, disease, an angry giant – but normally these things were reported.

"Yes," the first faun started again, his voice more steady, "We didn't know what to make of it so we came to you."

"Thank you very much," Sasha said smiling at the fauns, "You're free to go." The fauns bowed deeply, and exited.

"Get Lucy," Edmund said to Trufflehunter. Lucy had been put in charge of the everyday needs of the Narnians. If anyone knew about destroyed trees it would be her.

"What do you make of it," Sasha asked Edmund. She had only been in Narnian for a week, but she was quickly introduced to all of its traditions and customs.

"I don't know," Edmund started, "If Lucy doesn't know what happened then we should be worried."

"What should I know," Lucy said smiling as she walked in. With Peter gone, Lucy had been given a large amount of freedom. She was constantly running around unaccompanied and told only Trumpkin of her whereabouts. In the beginnig, Edmund was so worried he had assigned of one of his guards to watch her at all times, but by now he had lessened up a bit. He secretly, however, had his guard spy on her instead.

"Do you know anything about a lot of trees being destroyed by the Souther border?" Edmund asked. Lists of possibilites ran through his head, any number of them would result in him calling out the Narian guard.

"Trees were destroyed," Lucy started, her happy demeanor instantly replaced by worry, "I heard nothing about trees beying destroyed."

"What do you think this means?" Sasha asked to no one in particular.

"I'm not sure," Edmund started, "But I intend to find out." Edmund instantly sent out some of Reepicheep's men to search the forest. Some were to search for any more destroyed plots of land, while others searched for anything that could explain what had happened.

There was definetly more than one destroyed plot of land. Each site was almost identical. The entire area had been burned to remove the majority of the trees. The remains had then been shoveled out of the way to create a makeshift pathway. Along that pathway were multiple treadmarks criss-crossing over each other. One thing was found to identify the perpatrators. Lying discarded in the heaps of remains was a lone sword. After taking one look at the sword, Sasha was able to identify the sword as a Kangan battle sword.

"This is great," Edmund said sarcastically as he reviewed what the troops had found, "Peter leaves me alone for one week and Kangans show up."

"I'm sure Peter won't mind," Sasha said as she placed the sword down, "It's not like they would have seen it coming. If we hadn't been alerted by those two fauns we wouldn't have known at all."

"Yes," Edmund argued, "That's comforting. We would have been attacked by Kangns if two bumbling fauns hadn't alerted us about destroyed trees."

"They are not bumbling fauns," Lucy argued, "They are respectable members of our community. We have to come up with a way to protect the kingdom. You're good with battle plans, Edmund, come up with an attack plan, or a defense plan if you prefer."

"You're right," Edmund started as he regained his composure, "We have to alert the guards. They need to know exactly what's going on and be prepared for any form of attack. We should also double security around the castle, we don't exactly want them getting inside."

"We should also place archers on the castle towers," Sasha added, "If there's an aerial attack that could be helpful." Edmund nodded and continued to think.

"I'm not sure what else," he started, "I haven't dealt with a situation like this on my own before." Normally, when surprise attacks came up, Peter would handle everything. Edmund would just stand there making comments when necessary. When it came to battle plans, Edmund could come up with a plan in less than five minutes, however, defense plans were not his strong suit.

"That should be enough," Sasha replied as she sat down, "They're probably just surveying us." Lucy nodded.

"Sure," Edmund started sarcastically, "An entire army of Kangans is just sitting around watching us."

"Well, let's not be pessimistec," Sasha argued. Suddenly, the doors burst open and a troopful of Kangans burst in. "Maybe I should have been pessimistec." Edmund rolled his eyes as he scanned the room for anything to fight with. The only thing that could possibly make a dent in the Kangans' weapons was a butter knife.The circle of soldiers slowly parted to allow their leader, General Sife, to walk towards Edmund and Sasha.

"Resistance," he paused to search the room, "would be foolish." He motioned to his guards, who then grabbed the childrens' hands and bent them backwards. Lucy moaned in pain. General Sife motioned again, and the soldier holding Lucy dragged her off.

"Lu," Edmund screamed fighting against his captors.

"Tsk, tsk, now," Sife said sarcastically as he sat down regally in one of their chairs, "We don't want to worry her with the diplomatic side of this negotiation."

"You call this negotiaton?" Sasha asked angrily.

"Well," Sife said humorously as he picked up a book lying on a table near the chair, "I guess I wouldn't. In fact, I think I would call it me seizing control of your land."

"You won't be able to do this," Edmund said angrily as their captors started to drag Sasha and him away, "My brother and sister are coming back." The general raised his hand causing the captors to halt.

"I know they are, that's kind of why I'm here," Sife said as he walked towards Edmund and Sasha. "I guess I should be congratulating you."

"Congratulating us for what," Sasha spat out.

"For the wedding," he said to the confusion of Sasha and Edmund, "Oh, don't tell me you didn't know. I thought you two would be one of the first. Queen Aleena and King Peter are getting married, isn't that wonderful?"

"What?" Edmund asked completely shocked.

"Yes," the general replied as he circled around them, "Which means when they come running back here to save you, I can kill them both."

"No," Edmund yelled, "They won't fall for it."

"You know your brother," Sife said evily, "He always puts family first." Sife motioned towards the captors who started dragging them away. The Kangans soldiers dropped Edmund and Sasha off in the dungeons, along with a two pieces of bread, and left. Edmund had never been in the dungeons. He had sent many to the dungeons, but he had never truly experienced how awful they were. The stench was almost unbearable, not to mention the rats that freely wandered throughout the cells.

"Lucy," Edmund called hopefully, "Please Lucy, say something." Edmund and Sasha waited fearfully, but they could hear nothing.

"This is bad," Edmund said as he slid his back down the wall, "This is very, very bad."

"If they kill of Aleena and Peter, they'll have control of the kingdoms, and I doubt they're going to spare Susan and Caspian," Sasha explained to Edmund as she sat down next to him.

"Where is Lucy?" Edmund asked burying his head in his hands. "All I was supposed to do was take care of her, and I couldn't."

"It's not your fault," Sasha comforted.

"Yes it is," Edmund explained angrily, "This entire situation is my fault. Peter, Aleena, Susan, and Caspian have no idea that when they come back they're going to be killed by Kangas, Lucy is somewhere, and we are in the dungeon."

"Fine it is," Sasha gave in, "But we can fix this. If we can get to Peter, we can stop him from coming. I doubt the Kangans will kill us untill Peter and Aleena show up, and all we have to do is deliver a message."

"How do you expect us to do that, if you haven't realized we're in a dungeon?"

"But Lucy isn't," Sasha explained, "She can send a message. She can send for help."

"She has no idea what's going on," Edmund argued, "I hate to be negative, but what if she's dead."

"Then we all die," Sasha said reasonably, "Which obviously is the worst case scenario."

"Why are you acting like this is funny?' Edmund yelled. "We're trapped in a dungeon, that smells disgusting, and you are being funny?"

"Yes, because I think that Lucy isn't dead, and you should think that too. She's your sister; you know what she can do. You should be telling me that our fate is in her hands."

"I can't because," Edmund paused, "I just can't."

"That isn't a good enough reason," Sasha argued as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "Just say it with me. It's all up to Lucy."

"It's all up to Lucy," Edmund repeated, "It's all up to Lucy. Yeah, she can do this. I mean she's smart, she'll know to contact Peter. I know she will."

"Yes," Sasha said encouragingly, "That's the way to think."

"Right," Edmund repeated softly, "It's all up to Lucy."

**A/N: Sorry it took me forever to update, but I had a serious case of writer's block. Anyway, you know the drill: 10 reviews next chapter. Same poll as last time:**

**Aleena/Peter/Susan/Caspian**

**Or **

**Edmund/Sasha/Lucy**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12 – Betrayals**

"So," Susan started cautiously, "You're marrying my brother." While Aleena had been discussing Peter's new offer, the council had been debating what would happen if in fact Aleena did get married. Normally, the council would have been ecstatic at the thought of Aleena marrying, but complications were involved. First of all, Almira's wedding was only a week away, making her a more ideal candidate for their current situation. Also some candidates opposed the Narnians, especially Asher. They believed that if Aleena married Peter, Narnia would become the dominant country, which would diminish Tashbaan's power.

"If you say that one more time," Aleena replied angrily. She was nervous. Not "butterflies in my stomach nervous", more like, "I'm walking on thin ice but happy about it" nervous.

"Or what," Susan joked, "You're going to demote me from bridesmaid to flower girl?" Aleena playful slapped Susan.

"I don't even want to think about all that stuff," Aleena groaned, "I can't handle the whole flowers, food, and guest seating. Who cares?" Susan stared at her shocked.

"This is your wedding," Susan replied stunned, "Those things are important. I remember this one wedding my parents took Peter and me too, where the flowers clashed with the brides dress making her look like a turnip. Then again, opting for a red wedding dress wasn't exactly a smart idea."

"I'm just going to leave this entire thing up to Caleb, he's good at this," Aleena said as Caleb rounded the corner.

"That's comforting," Caleb said obviously irritated, "Do you know how much stuff I've had to do in the last hour to make it look like you two are actually getting married."

"Thanks Caleb," Aleena said as she hugged him, "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Right," he said still irritated, "The council's done. They're asking for you and Aleena."

"What!" Aleena exclaimed as she started running towards the council room. "You couldn't have started with that first?"

"No," Caleb yelled back.

"Find Peter," Aleena yelled to him as she arrived at the council's doors. She paused and took a deep breath. Gently pushing the door open this time, she cautiously walked in.

"Thank you for not slamming the door," Asher said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Aleena said as she scanned the room, "Where's m sister?"

"We're currently unsure, but we're looking for her," Asher said a hint of anger in his voice. He had worked to hard for Almira to blow it. Only a couple of minutes later, however, Almira arrived.

"Sorry," Almira started her voice sickly sweet, "I was talking to one of the servants about better working conditions." Whatever ploy she had tried to pull had obviously not worked as council members looked at each other humorously. If anything, Almira had been yelling at the servants about some trivial oversight on their behalf.

"Never mind," Asher replied sweetly, "As long as you're here." Peter, Susan, Caspian, and Caleb slipped quietly into the room.

"As you know," Aleena's uncle started, "This situation is very interesting. On one half, Aleena you are very right when you say that Almira is not ready for this job, but she had fulfilled all the legal requirements. Technically there is nothing holding her back from being queen, while you didn't fulfill the requirements. Now that you have fulfilled the requirements, you raised another problem. As you probably know, we are at war with the Kangans, and they will stop at nothing to seize control. So, the council has decided that for you to take your position as queen you must get married before your sister."

"Are you serious?" Aleena said staring at him. "Her wedding is this Saturday." In the corner, Caleb looked extremely pale.

"I think it's a good decision," Almira replied smugly, "It seems do-able. I mean if you two are really serious about this wedding."

"We are," Peter blurted out. Aleena turned to stare at him shocked.

"What is he doing," Susan whispered to Caspian.

"Improvising," Caspian guessed as he stared at Peter. By now Caleb had left the room to make arrangements as fast as he could. He had seen enough to now where this was going.

"We can do it," Peter exclaimed as he stepped forward towards Aleena, "Right?"

"Right," Aleena said a tad shocked. Almira stared coldly at Peter.

"Isn't it true though that you aren't from this," Almira paused to think of a word, "Time period and world. If you get married, she can't leave and neither can you. You're okay with that." Aleena started to say no, before Peter cut her off.

"Yes, we've worked it out," he interrupted. Aleena continued to stare at him wide-eyed.

"It's settled then," her uncle said pleasantly, "As long as you and Aleena marry before this Saturday you may become queen." The council members exited the room in small clusters leaving Aleena, Almira, Peter, Susan, and Caspian alone in the room.

"Well, congratulations Aleena," Almira stared breaking the silence, "I guess you've won. I hope you live to enjoy it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aleena spat out.

"It means that as queen you're going to have a lot of enemies," Almira walked towards the door and looked back, "Starting with me."

"Well, that was dramatic," Caspian said.

"Yeah, but it made me worry, knowing Almira she won't give up this easily," Aleena said.

"Well worry about that later," Peter replied trying to ease her worry.

"I'm not listening when you say that anymore," Aleena said feigning anger.

"Hey," Peter defended himself, "You're the one who introduced me to that saying." They all laughed as they started to leave.

"Does anyone one know where Caleb went?" Aleena asked as she scanned the hallway.

"That's actually a really good question," Caspian added, "I saw him leave a little while earlier."

"Hm," Aleena started, "I'm sure he'll show up eventually." As the four of them walked out of the dark, and somewhat dreary, abode, they couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen.

Aleena was torn between what was morally right and what was right for her people. It wasn't that she didn't secretly like the idea of marrying Peter, it was the fact that this was for life.There as no way of going, "Oops, I'm sorry this didn't work out." Once you were married, you were married.

Peter was, for lack of a better word, kicking himself in the butt. He knew he had not thought this through, and the fact that the awkward silence between Aleena and him kept growing was not helping. He didn't know what compelled him to just abandon all common sense and just do something. That was not him, it never was. Even in the heat of the moment, he had thought about the repercussions.

Susan and Caspian were just shocked. This was something they had never thought about. They had never actually thought of this as a solution to their problems. It had never occurred to them that they could just break this world barrier and get married. In fact, in Susan's eyes, she was sure that marriage was not an option.

The four of them continued to walk aimlessly, thinking of how complicated the situation was. Aleena, trying to break the silence, asked again where Caleb was. In fact, since the council meeting no one had seen Caleb.

Caleb was on the other side of town. Pacing nervously in one of the multiple destroyed homes, he started talking to himself.

"Where is she," he said angrily. Suddenly the door started to open, and he spun around. "You're late."

"I'm sorry," Almira said as she pulled off her hood, "I didn't want to be followed."

"Yeah, well next time let me know," Caleb said as he moved towards her, "I thought you'd been caught."

"Aww," Almira said sweetly as she leaned in and kissed him, "You don't have to worry about me Caleb, I'm a big girl."

"Yeah, a big girl who could get lose everything because of a bigger girl," he said seriously.

"Come on," Almira whined, "It doesn't matter. Even if they get married, we have a plan. You did come up with a plan right?"

"Of course," Caleb said as he kissed Almira again, "The minute they become husband and wife they're going to get shot by a drunk soldier. I found him on the street, and apparently he loves you."

"Not as much as you I'm sure," Almira cooed as she continued kissing him, "What about after she's dead?"

"My wife dies due to unexplainable causes, and your fiancee commits suicide the day of your wedding," Caleb explained smugly, "It all works out."

"I love when you're evil," Almira teased as she played with a strand of his hair, "Because if everything goes according to our plan, we are going to be very rich."

**A/N: There it is. So, thanks to your lovely reviews I have decided to alternate between Aleena/Peter/Susan/Caspian and Edmund/Sasha/Lucy, and as usual ten reviews equals another chapter.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 - Answers**

"It has been two days," Edmund groaned as he banged his head lightly against the wall, "Two days of pure awfulness."

"I don't think that's a word," Sasha piped up from the corner, her head lying gently against the wall. She, like Edmund, had not enjoyed the last two days much either. The aroma was terrible, the sight was the same, and the food was awful. She suddenly turned her head towards the entrance. "Do you hear something?" Edmund went towards the entrance and could silently hear the soft pitter-patter of footsteps. Suddenly, he could see a little mouse hurrying towards them.

"Sophie," Edmund said ecstatically as he reached through the bars to pick her up. Sophie was Reepicheep's youngest sister. Reepicheep was not only the oldest, but the only boy in a family of 8. Sophie had grown extremely close to Reepicheep and her only goal was to be just like her brother. She had instantly signed up to join Reepicheep's troop, but had been denied by her brother for obvious reasons (she was only a year old). Almost a year had gone by and Sophie was almost as good as her brother when it came to fighting. Sophie was unusually small and had used this to climb into her victims' pockets and hit them when they least expected it.

"King Edmund," she said as she bowed in his palm, "It's nice to see you, even if the setting is not so nice." Sophie frowned in disgust as she took in the sight.

"How are things, is Lucy okay, what's going on?" he asked rapidly as he placed her next to both Sasha and him.

"Lucy is fine," Sophie started, Edmund sighed next to her, "But things are not well. The citizens are getting angry. Yesterday, the Kangans thought it would be fun to ride centaurs. That did not go very well. 3 Kangans were killed."

"That's good," Sasha interjected smiling.

"5 centaurs died," Sophie said sadly. Sasha's smile slowly vanished "It gets worse. Narnians have gone into hiding for fear of what the Kangans will do. They're terrified. The few that have stood up against the Kangans have died. Hope is not something you see very often anymore."

"But it's only been two days," Edmund said in disbelief, "It couldn't have gotten that bad."

"It is though. Talking animals have been tagged; ogres have been used to transport weapons and centaurs used as horses. Everyone does what they say in fear of your assassinations."

"What's going on with Lucy," Sasha interrupted, "Where is she?"

"They're keeping her locked up in one of the castle's towers. I have no idea which one though. I'm sure she's fine, they keep using her as a threat."

"A threat," Sasha asked, "How can they use Lucy as a threat."

"Like," Sophie paused to think, "If you don't move this catapult, Lucy might wake up without an arm."

"That's terrible," Sasha whispered in horror, "How could they do something like that."

"It's terrible, but effective," Edmund started softly. He could remember when Peter and he used to use threats like that. They had never meant it, but the fear it instilled in hostages was excellent. Threaten someone that everyone cares about, and everyone will do what you say. He stood up and ran his hand through his hair. "What are we going to do?"

"I have a plan," Sophie stopped short at the sound of a door opening.

"Quick in my pocket," Edmund whispered as Sophie jumped in. Edmund scrambled over to an opposite corner and pretended to sleep. Barely opening one of his eyes, he could see a Kangan soldier standing outside their cell.

"General Shine would like to see you," he said regally as he unlocked the cell. Two other guards appeared out of nowhere and escorted Edmund and Sasha out of their cell.

"Wait here," one of them said as they closed the doors. Edmund heard the click of a lock as he sat down. He stared around. Only a couple of days ago, Sasha and he played chess here. Now, the paintings of Narnian triumphs had been effaced and Kangan armor lay scattered.

"It looks different," Sasha whispered, "It doesn't look happy anymore." Sasha too had spotted the differences in the room's appearance.

"Of course it looks different," Sophie started as she struggled to get out of Edmund's pocket. Edmund helped her out and placed her in his hand cautiously. "Thank you. Going back to what I said, pretty much the entire castle looks like this."

"That's," Sasha stopped to stare at the door. She could hear the quiet click of the doors unlocking and motioned towards Sophie. Sophie scuttled into Edmund's pocket, pulling her tail in behind her. The door started to open, when it suddenly closed again.

"Sophie, quick," Edmund whispered as he pulled Sophie back out by her tail, "When that door opens again run out and find Lucy. Tell her to get word to Peter about what's going on." He tossed Sophie towards the entrance, and she plopped quietly next to a vase. Dusting herself off, while sending a mixture of rude hand signals towards Edmund, she found a nice niche between the door and the vase.

"Nice to see you again," General Sife gloated as he pushed open the door. Edmund and Sasha stared at Sophie. She nodded before quickly rushing out of the door. They could hear the shrieks of the guards outside.

"Something's scaring your guards," Edmund said smugly, "Probably a mouse."

"My guards are braver than that," Sife replied as he walked towards them, "and I don't think you are in the sort of position to be making jokes about my men."

"What type of position are we in," Sasha interjected, hoping to hold of a brawl of some sort.

"The type of position where I have to order my men not to kill you," Sife replied coldly. He stared at Sasha, who stared back in disgust.

"Thank you," she replied sarcastically, "life in a jail cell is so much better than no life at all."

"Exactly," he said as he stood up. He walked towards the door, opened it slightly, and motioned to someone outside. The two soldiers outside pushed open the doors, allowing 3 men to walk in and set up a table. Next, they saw another 2 men walk in with multiple plates of food. They laid the food on the table, bowed, and walked out. "I thought you might be in need of a good meal. Edmund and Sasha stared at each other. The food looked delicious, but they were hesitant. This food could be poisoned, and, knowing Sife, it probably was.

"What," Sife remarked feigning sadness, "Not going to eat anything."

"We're not hungry," Sasha lied as she stared at the plate of food in front of her.

"Oh, you're scared I did something to it aren't you," Sife laughed as he glanced between them. He picked up a fork and took a bite from one of the plates, "See the food's fine. Plus I need you alive." Edmund glanced at Sasha as he cautiously picked up a fork. He stared at Sasha who had also hesitantly picked up a fork. "Come now, we can all be civilized here. Hasn't someone taught you it's rude to refuse food?"

"It's," Edmund paused as he bite into a portion of the meal, "All right." Sasha gazed at him, waiting for him to show some signs of danger. After a few minutes, she to started to eat with Edmund.

"Now," Sife started merrily as he clapped his hands, "let's get down to business. I have good news and bad news, what would you like to hear first?"

"The good news," Sasha answered.

"All right then," Sife started, "One of you will no longer have to stay down in the jail cells, but will be allowed to accompany Lucy. I will allow you time after our little discussion to decide."

"What's the bad news," Sasha asked diplomatically.

"The bad news is a secret," Sife smiled, acting a bit senile, "but I'm going to let you in on it."

"Thank you," Sasha said, goading him on, "that's quite nice of you." Sife stared at her with an odd look of affection on his face.

"As you know," Sife started to pace the room, "King Peter and Queen Aleena are to be married this Friday. Our inside source tells us that Friday will not only be their wedding, but the day they die." Sasha gasped and dropped her fork, while Edmund stared at him wide-eyed. "I know, awfully sad, but that means that the highest links to both the Tashbaan and Narnian throne will be gone, leaving us a prime opportunity to take control." Sasha started to talk when Sife cut her off. "What about Queen Susan and Prince Caspian? Well, the moment they come running back to save you, we'll kill them off."

"You can't do this," Edmund argued, "We won't let you."

"Oh yes," Sife laughed, "You two are going to make it to Tashbaan in a week, while the wedding is in three days. That being if you make it out of Narnia alive." Edmund fumed in the corner.

"They won't fall for it," Edmund argued, "Caspian's smarter than you think."

"Yes, but wasn't it always your brother who came up with those type of plans," Sife smirked, "How sad he won't live to see such a marvelous defeat." Edmund snapped. He lunged towards Sife. Side-stepping twice, Sife easily moved out of the way. Yelling for his guards, Sife repeatedly dodged blows from Edmund.

"Stop it please," Sasha yelled, her pleas being ignored by both parties. The two guards stationed outside rushed inside, and they were now attempting to pull Edmund away from their general.

"I will not tolerate this," Sife demanded. Edmund was now being restrained by two guards, while Sasha stared on frightened. Walking towards Edmund, Sife paused in front of him and looked him straight in the eye. "You watch what you do because it wouldn't take much for you, or your friends, to die. Take him away." The guards dragged Edmund off, as Sife regained his composure. "I guess that means that you will get to stay with Lucy."

"What'll happen to him," Sasha asked timidly as she stared at the open doors, "They won't hurt him right?"

"They aren't supposed to, but I shall not make any promises," Sife answered kindly. Placing his hand on her shoulder, he led her towards Lucy's room. Walking up numerous staircases, they came upon a single room guarded by a single soldier. Sife motioned towards the guard, who automatically moved to the side. Opening the door with a key, Sife pushed the door open.

"Lucy," Sasha yelled as she ran inside, "You're okay." She hugged Lucy, while Lucy smiled at her placidly.

"I'll leave you to get re-acquainted with each other," Sife paused as he walked towards the door, "Oh, and Sasha, your presence will be mandatory at dinner tomorrow night." He shut the door behind him as Sasha stared on.

"He's awful," Lucy whispered, "I've been up here alone the entire time."

"What about Sophie, we sent her to find you?" Sasha asked as they both took seats on the bed. Lucy's room seemed quite pleasant. The walls were painted a bright yellow and filled with gorgeous paintings. There were also numerous books and art supplies, which had been put to good use by Lucy.

"I'm here," Sophie squeaked as she scurried out from under the pillow, "I came in the same time you did." Lucy squealed as she started to hug Sophie. Sophie squirmed out of Lucy's hands and bounced lightly on the bed.

"How's Edmund," Lucy worried, "why isn't he with you?"

"He's being held in the dungeon," Sasha explained, "he didn't take the whole marriage slash murder thing that well."

"What!" Lucy exclaimed. Pulling on Sasha's sleeve, she demanded to know what Sasha was taking about.

"You mean you don't know," Sasha asked. Lucy shook her head. "Well, this'll probably make and break your day. Peter and Aleena are getting married – yes I know I'm equally confused – but the day someone's planning to assassinate them the day of their marriage."

"No," Lucy whispered, "no." Sasha nodded as Lucy started to cry. "That's not possible," she sniffled.

"I know it's hard to believe, but it's probably the truth," Sasha added as Lucy burst out into another round of tears.

"I want Peter," Lucy whined, "and Aleena and Susan and Caspian and Edmund."

"I know," Sasha whispered, "I know."

**A/N: Yeah, for some weird reason this took me the longest time to write. So, opinions on Sife would be nice. 10 reviews new chapter. Till next time, au revoir. **


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 - Letters from a Guardian Angel

"Carnations or Lilies," the timid florist asked Aleena as she tried desperately to prepare for the queen's wedding. Caleb had promised to take care of all the legal problems; however, he forced Aleena to spend all her time preparing for the actual wedding itself. In a few days, Aleena had managed to plan the reception, the bridesmaids, the dresses, and anything else she could think of. The only things left was security, but Caspian had promised to take care of that, which left the floral arrangements. Aleena had managed to get ahold of one of the more prominent florists in Tashbaan. The florist cleared her throat.

"Lilies," Aleena snapped. The constant stream of questions and congratulations was starting to get on her nerves. The florist nodded as she scribbled herself a note. She paused to cross-check something. A slight frown played upon her face as she decided what to do. Gathering up her courage, the florist cleared her throat again. "What?"

"Lilies won't go with your theme," the florist said cautiously. Aleena smiled sweetly, causing the florist to slowly smile back.

"Why don't you," Aleena smiled, "change the theme then?" The smile vanished from the florist's face, her face lost all coulour and she rapidly wrote and crossed out notes all over her notepad. They both turned around when they heard a knock on the door. As Peter let himself in, the first thing he saw was a terrified florist, ready to breakout in a stream of endless tears.

"Aleena," Peter asked, "Why don't you take a break?" Without even arguing, she pulled herself out of her chair and quickly left. She nodded curtly towards both Peter and the florist. The florists opened her mouth as if preparing herself to ask a question, but she changed her mind halfway through. "Good idea," Peter chuckled. The florist smiled at Peter's genuine sense of humor. "I'd like to apologize for her behavior; she's under a lot  
of stress you know?" The florist nodded her demeanor much more casual. Truth was, all the citizens were awestruck by the Narnians. People swarmed Aleena and Peter in order to give them their congratulations and gifts. Two rooms in the castle were dedicated to the storage of gifts from the citizens. The gifts ranged from a scrawny chicken, who Susan had taken under her wing in order to prevent the chicken from becoming her next meal, and a multitude of jewelry whose total value equaled that of the construction of  
an entire bazaar built on marble floors.

"Just remind her we're not finished," the florist told Peter, to which he  
replied with a nod. Gathering her papers, the florist quickly left the room, bowing before Peter as she left. He couldn't help but let a small smile escape his lips. It was obvious that the townspeople adored Aleena. He had been informed by one of the maids, who might or might not have been flirting with him at the time that Almira hadn't received close to a room full of gifts. He had also been informed of the mutual hatred by each of the  
sisters. After their mother died, Aleena tried desperately to care for Almira. Instead, Almira pushed her away, using her newfound freedom to do as she pleased. Her father, angered by Almira's blatant lack of responsibility, refused to teach Almira the ways of royalty. From then on, Almira constantly battled for the throne, and respect, from their father. Catching up to Aleena, he saw her lying on the grass, staring blankly into the sky.

"How very lady-like," he said sarcastically. Aleena stared at him and shrugged her shoulders. Joining her on the grass, they stared quietly up at the sky.

"I think this wedding is a bad idea," Aleena started, "I mean, it's caused Susan and Caspian to argue endlessly." Peter nodded. Yesterday, Caspian confronted Susan about what they were planning on doing once Susan had to go back. Next thing they know, they were screaming at each other. The next day, the only thing people could talk about was their argument.

"We both know that their argument would have happened eventually, regardless of our marital status," Peter replied calmly.

"Do you really believe that? Look at us, we've know each other for, what, two, maybe three, weeks? How can we be so sure? Before Peter could answer, Caleb interrupted them.

"Sorry to walk in on a moment," Caleb smirked as Aleena chucked a pebble she had been playing with at him. "I actually need to talk to you, now this may sound crazy, but there's a," he paused to clear his throat, "a flowery being hear to talk to you."

"Flowery being," Peter shot a glance to Aleena, "Get Susan and Caspian." Caleb nodded as Peter and Aleena scrambled up. A few seconds later, Caleb ran back to direct them to where the tree was waiting before running back to find Susan and Caspian. Peter understood that this was no "flowery being", but instead a message sent by one of the trees. Sure enough, the message waited patiently  
as a group of townspeople gathered around her. A few of the children danced around her. They all backed away, however, when one brave soul cautiously touched her. The tree smiled softly and returned back to her dazed state. As she noticed Peter, she lightly floated towards them.

"Who sent you?" Peter asked.

"I have been asked not to reveal who sent me," she breathed. Peter nodded, and she started again, "I bring devastating news. While waiting for your return, Narnia has been attacked by the Kangans. They're holding King Edmund, Queen Lucy, and Lady Sasha hostage in the castle. People are getting worried. Please return. Anonymous." As she emphasized the last word, the leaves fell apart. A few of the bystanders gasped, as the children ran forward to play with the enchanted leaves. Susan and Caspian had arrived just in time to hear the last part of the message. The five of them, including Caleb, sat there in silence.

"What do we do," Susan asked, "we can't exactly leave. You two are getting married tomorrow."

"Exactly," Aleena started, a plan forming in her head, "Only Peter and I need to stay here. Susan, you and Caspian, can leave. After the wedding, we'll meet you back in Narnian."

"I think that's a wonderful idea," Caleb nodded.

"I think we should get a second opinion," Caspian added, "For all we know this could be a trap to get to you and Peter." Peter looked at Aleena, his face filled with worry.

"My uncle, he's one of the few people I still trust, he'll know what to do," Aleena declared. She turned and rushed towards one of the domes, leaving the rest of them with the remains of the flowery message. Peter, Caspian, Susan, and Caleb looked at each other before following after her. As they entered into the building they could see Aleena kneeling on the floor.

"What's wrong," Peter asked as he walked towards her. As he placed his hand on her shoulder he could clearly see what was wrong. Her uncle lay on the floor, a small puddle of blood surrounded him. His pale, lucid eyes stared up at the ceiling, transfixed on an imaginary point. By know, Susan and Caspian surrounded Aleena, staring shocked at the body in front of them.

"He's dead," Aleena whispered, trying desperately to fight back tears. Peter tried to pull her away from the body, but she remained firm. Her hand held tightly onto her uncle's. She slowly let go of his hand to wipe a tear away from her eye. Peter used this to slowly pull her away from the body. She turned to face Peter. "I can't go to Narnia. I have to stay here."

"But what about Edmund, Sasha, and Lucy," Peter argued with her. He knew that it was cruel to pull Aleena away from her uncle now that he was dead, but they had bigger problems at hand.

"I think we have a bigger problem," Caleb said as he turned away from the wall. There, held against the wall by a knife covered in blood was an invitation to Peter and Aleena's wedding. "You two are next."

"No one would dare try anything," Aleena quickly regained her serious composure, "there's too much security." She looked between Peter and Caleb searching for some sort of reassurance in their eyes.

"But if someone got in here," Caspian trailed off.

"There's no way we're leaving you alone now," Susan argued. Peter looked at her. He knew that Susan desperately wanted to go back to Narnia to assist Edmund and Lucy.

"I have a better idea," replied Peter, "let's move the wedding up to tonight. Just us five and the council members will be there. No one else will know that the wedding's been moved up. We get married tonight, and we leave together." They looked at Aleena. She nodded slowly and Caleb ran off to inform, not the council men, but Almira.

It took only two hours to gather everyone in order to move up the wedding. A very anxious Caleb had managed to get everyone gathered in time to pull this off. Most of the councilmen had brought their wives, who were now sniveling as the minister began his sermon. They could see Caleb fidgeting slowly behind Aleena and looking around nervously as though he were waiting for something, or someone

Tashbaan wedding's were very similar to British weddings, except for the wine ceremony that took place right at the end. The groom had to first take a sip of the wine and then say his vows to his bride. After he was done, the bride would take a sip from the same cup and say her vows.

Susan had some how managed to make the room look some what beautiful. She used the flowers that arrived earlier to make the room look festive and romantic. Caspian and Reppicheep managed to come up with an effective battle plan in case an estranged murder crashed the wedding.

Caspian and Susan stood on both sides of Peter and Aleena watching, not only the wedding, but each other. Like most girls, about two minutes into the sermon Susan had burst out into tears. Caspian wanted nothing more than to walk across the aisle and hold her, but after recent argument he wasn't sure if he could. So instead, he watched her from afar.

As the minister finished his sermon, most of the women reached inside their bags to find something to wipe their eyes. Susan glanced towards Caspian hoping that he wouldn't notice her staring at him. She couldn't help but let a frown form on her face as she thought of the recent tension between Caspian and her. She gave her head a little shake in attempt to focus back on the wedding. Susan looked on as the minister poured a hearty helping of red wine into the ornate glass. She chuckled. The last time they'd wine had been over 1300 years ago, Narnian time.

The minister cleared his throat before starting a string of Tashbaan hymns. Aleena glanced towards Peter who gave her an encouraging smile. Aleena smiled back. She watched as the minister handed the glass to Peter, who took a sip, before the minister continued his chanting. Aleena slowly let her eyes wander the room. It was then that she spotted Almira casually leaning against the wall of the room. Aleena tilted her head to stare at her. Almira stared at her, a satisfactory grin on her face. Aleena's head whizzed with thoughts as to why Almira was even attending her wedding. Subconsciously, Aleena felt herself reaching out to grab the glass the minister handed her, her eyes still focused on Almira. She brought the glass up to her lips, but she was transfixed upon Almira. She slowly watched Almira's face turn into a slight frown.

That's when she heard it, the deafening thump of someone falling to the ground. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Aleena could hear Susan calling his name and Caspian rushing to his side, but Aleena was focused in on Almira. Almira smiled and nodded her head before slipping out of the room. Aleena slowly turned her head to face Peter's crumbled body lying on the floor. She knelt down next to him. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Caspian and Reepicheep screaming out orders, Susan shaking her brother as tears streamed down her face, and Aleena calling out Peter's name. Aleena took Peter's hand in hers; she could feel tears welling up in her eyes. Some councilmen surrounded them, looking on fearfully, while others tried to vacate the make-shift chapel. In all the commotion, no one had noticed Almira and Caleb slip out of the room.

**A/N: So, I'm back. First I wanted to apologize for not updating in forever, it's just that there was a serious lack of reviews for the last chapter which made me extremly depressed. I wanted to give a quick thanks to ****fantasyland95**** who wrote the last review needed to push me out of my depression and push me to continue writing. I hope you liked this chapter, and review if you want the next one :) Thanks, so much!!!**


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